Accidents with confirmed biological risk in an university hospital

Accidental exposure to biological products in an hospital work environment involves the risk of transmitting infectious agents, which include, among others, hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The purpose of this study was to quantify and characterize the work related accidents with confirmed biological risk that occurred between January 2008 and June 2010 in Hospital de Santa Maria in accordance with the professional group of workers involved, the type of agent responsible for injury, the biological fluid and infectious agent involved. This is a retrospective study that relied on an appraisal of the healthcare workers medical files in order to identify accidents with biological risk, in which the source had been confirmed to be positive for HBV, HCV, HIV or for other biological agents. Of the 87 accidents with proven biological risk identified during the study period, it was found that 42% occurred in physicians, 38% in nurses, 13% in operating assistants, 6% in technicians and 1% in students (medical or nursing). Injury due to an hollow needle was the accident's cause most frequently involved (60%). Blood was the biological liquid contaminant in 91% of cases. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) was the infectious agent most frequently involved, being present in 52 (60%) of occupational accidents with proven biological risk. During the time covered by this study, there was no case of seroconversion. Despite a possible increase of notification of such accidents, as a result of the effect of the information and training campaigns that the Occupational Health Service have been implementing, there is an intention of maintaining the steadily decrease in the number of accidents, as has happened to date, due to the widespread adoption of primary prevention measures.