Methods This is a study carried out amongst the staff of hemodialysis centres in the public health sector of the city of Casablanca using a questionnaire containing four sections: general information, ABE risk assessment, conduct in case of ABE and prevention evaluation.

Results One hundred people responded to the questionnaire, with 52 physicians and 48 paramedics. The most common acts were the pose of catheters, followed by venous sampling and the attachment of infusions. Respectively, 65% and 61% of the respondents brought up the concept of recapping and manual mismatching of needles. Thirty two doctors and 32 nurses were victims of ABE, 59 were puncture cases and 22 were projection accidents. Twenty-eight of them were in an emergency situation and 23 were in front of a patient who was difficult to prick. Thirty participants had received training on ABE.

Discussion in a French epidemiological study, they found that 70.2% of the ABE in dialysis were punctures, which matches our results (70%). They also found that 63% of ABE were preventable only by respecting standard precautions and the use of safety equipment, which can also be true for us since we found that our participants conserve some risky habits such as recapping and manual needle mismatching.

Conclusion Steady efforts should be taken to counter attack the growing numbers of ABE. We need to reinforce information and training methods aimed at healthcare workers, and we also have to promote vaccination in healthcare settings.