A survey of nearly 700 surgical residents in 17 U.S. medical centers finds that more than half
failed to report needle-stick injuries involving patients whose blood could be a source of HIV,
hepatitis or other infections.
Authors of the report--appearing in the June 28 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine-
-say most residents in the survey falsely believe that reporting and getting timely medical attention
won't prevent infection. Residents also say reporting takes "too much time" and interrupts their work.
"The fact that we have so many residents who fail to understand the importance of timely
reporting of needle-stick exposures in order to protect themselves from serious medical consequences
clearly illustrates the breadth of this problem and the need for hospitals to develop systems to
address it," said contributing author Mark S. Sulkowski of the Division of Infectious Diseases at
Johns Hopkins.
Lead author Martin Makary, an assistant professor at the School of Medicine and a surgeon at
The Johns Hopkins Hospital, says that while residents must take more responsibility, it's also up to
hospitals to take "immediate steps to improve safety and care for health care workers to reduce the
spread of HIV and hepatitis infection."
Makary says injuries could be greatly reduced by hospitals increasing the use of nurse
practitioners and physicians assistants to reduce surgical workloads and by adopting sharpless surgical
techniques such as electric scalpels, clips and glues.
"Twenty percent of all general surgery operations could be done without using any sharp
instruments," he said.
Furthermore, Makary says that residents would more likely report exposures if hospitals used
timely reporting mechanisms (e.g., internal hotlines and response teams), routine prompts (e.g.,
postoperative checklists that monitor exposures) and peer-to-peer education to create a local culture
that encourages speaking up.
"We know also that many residents resist reporting because the training culture suggests that
needle sticks 'go with the territory,' and reporting them may lower peer esteem," Makary said.
The survey, which took place in 2003, revealed that 99 percent of surgeons in training suffered
an average of eight needle-stick injuries in their first five years. Of these surgeons, only 49 percent
reported injuries to an employee health service. Of those who reported, 53 percent had experienced
an injury involving a patient with a history of intravenous drug use and/or infected with HIV, hepatitis
B or hepatitis C.
"We did not realize the extent to which health care workers are at risk--a risk that is
preventable," said Makary, who studies medical errors and health care quality. Improved techniques
that reduce the number of needle sticks and timely treatment for those who are injured could all but
eliminate the risk of getting infected with disease, he says.
In the survey, 57 percent of surgical residents reported a feeling of being "rushed" as the
primary cause of the injury, 42 percent said they did not report the injury because it took "too much
time," and 28 percent said there was "no utility in reporting." In fact, Sulkowski says, early reporting
and treatment with antivirals can prevent the establishment of infection in people exposed to HIV and
hepatitis B and can eradicate evidence of virus in more than 90 percent of people with acute hepatitis
C infection.
Previous studies suggest that an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 needle-stick injuries are
reported each year by U.S. health care workers. Furthermore, a recent study of a general surgical
service in an urban academic hospital revealed that 20 percent to 38 percent of all procedures
involved patients with blood-borne pathogens.
Additional researchers from Johns Hopkins are Peter J. Pronovost and J. Bryan Sexton, both of
the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, and Marta M. Gilson, of the Department
of Surgery.
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