Introduction: Medical students are mainly exposed to needle stick and sharp object injuries in the course of their clinical activities during studying. They are at high risk due to their undeveloped skills, restricted clinical experience, lack of knowledge and risk perception. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of needle stick injuries of the fourth and final year medical students, and to estimate their knowledge about blood-borne pathogens disease transmission and standard precautions.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Faculty of Medicine, in February 2014. The students were invited to self-administer a questionnaire of 26 closed questions prepared for this study.
Results: The questionnaire was filled in and returned by 637 students. The prevalence of needle sticks and sharp object injuries was 29.5%. Needle stick injuries were the most common type of accidents, more frequent among the fourth compared to the sixth year students (p=0.002). The majority of accidents occurred in patient rooms (53%) and the emergency department (15%). 54% of participants reported an accident to the responsible person. Students without accidents had a significantly better perception of risk (3.79 vs. 3.35; p<0.05). Out of the total participating students, only 16.6% (106/637) received all three doses of Hepatitis B vaccination, while 16.2% were partially vaccinated.
Conclusions: There is a need for additional theoretical and practical education of our students on blood exposure via accidents, raising the awareness of the necessity of hepatitis B vaccination, and introducing the unique/comprehensive procedure for accident reporting for students and healthcare workers in the entire country.
Uvod: Študentje medicine so v okviru kliničnih dejavnosti med študijem izpostavljeni predvsem vbodnim poškodbam z iglami ter urezninam z ostrimi predmeti. Zaradi še nerazvitih kliničnih veščin, skromnih kliničnih izkušenj in omejenega znanja je tveganje za poškodbo pri njih višje. Cilj te raziskave je bil zato ugotoviti razširjenost poškodb z iglami in ostrimi predmeti v medicini med študenti četrtega in zadnjega letnika medicine ter oceniti njihovo znanje o boleznih, ki se prenašajo s krvjo, in poznavanje standardnih varnostnih ukrepov.
Metode: Februarja 2014 smo izpeljali presečno raziskavo na Medicinski fakulteti Univerze v Beogradu. Študentje so bili povabljeni, naj izpolnijo vprašalnik, sestavljen iz 26 vprašanj zaprtega tipa, pripravljenih za to študijo.
Rezultati: Vprašalnik je izpolnilo 637 študentov. Razširjenost poškodb z iglami in ostrimi predmeti je bila 29,5-odstotna. Poškodbe z iglami so bile najpogostejša vrsta poškodb nasploh in pogostejša med študenti četrtega letnika v primerjavi s študenti šestega letnika (p=0,002). Večina poškodb se je pojavila v bolniških sobah (53%) in na urgentnih oddelkih (15%). Odgovorni osebi je nezgodo sporočilo 54% udeležencev. Študenti brez poškodb so bistveno bolje zaznavali tveganje (3,79 vs. 3,35; p<0,05). Le 51% sodelujočih študentov je bilo v celoti cepljenih proti hepatitisu B.
Zaključek: Obstaja potreba po dodatnem teoretičnem in praktičnem izobraževanju naših študentov o izpostavljenosti krvi zaradi poškodb z iglami in ostrimi predmeti, po dvigu zavesti o nujnosti cepljenja proti hepatitisu B in uvajanju celovitega postopka za poročanje o poškodbah z iglami in ostrimi predmeti za študente in zdravstvene delavce v celotni državi.
Keywords: Hepatitis B vaccine; Serbia; knowledge; medical students; needlestick injuries.