Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of SARS infection in medical workers and the efficacy of isolation precautions in the hospital.
Methods: A retrospective analysis was employed to study the prevalence of SARS infection in medical workers who contacted with SARS patients directly. The data were analyzed with EPI statistic soft ware.
Results: From March 15th, 2003 to May 18th, 2003, 224 patients with clinical confirmed SARS and 72 patients with clinical suspected SARS were presented in our hospital. The principle and system of the isolation precautions were established and implemented in our hospital. Seven hundreds and twenty medical workers including doctors, nurses and nurse-assistants were involved in the medical care of patients with SARS. Eighteen out of the 720 (2.43%) medical workers were infected with SARS, most of them were from the department of emergency, and the majority of infected medical workers were nurse-assistants. After the isolation precautions in hospital were established, the spreading of SARS in medical stuffs declined dramatically. The medical workers infected with SARS were 7.20% of SARS patients presented or hospitalized in our hospital. The infection rate was significantly lower than that of the average rate in our country.
Conclusion: The isolation precautions taken in our hospital was effective.