NEEDLESTICK INJURIES AMONG FEMALE VETERINARIANS - FREQUENCY, SYRINGE CONTENTS AND SIDE-EFFECTS

In a mixed-mode survey of all 1970-80 female graduates of all US veter inary colleges, information was obtained regarding several health, per sonal and occupational factors including data on occupational needlest ick events. Among the 2,532 survey respondents, 1,620 reported one or more needleslicks after graduation from veterinary college (64.0% of a ll respondents). A total of 2,663 stick events were reported, although the descriptions of each puncture event varied in quality/completenes s, probably due in large part to their retrospective nature. Substance s most often injected include vaccines, antibiotics, anaesthetics and animal blood. Of the 438 slicks resulting in at least one side-effect (16.4% of all sticks), 337 were classified as mild and localized at th e site of injection (12.7% of all sticks, similar to 77% of slicks pro ducing a side-effect), with 18 characterized as severe and systemic (0 .7% of ail sticks, similar to 4% of sticks producing a side-effect). O ne accidental self-injection of a prostaglandin compound resulted in a spontaneous abortion, heightening awareness that occupational needles ticks may also represent a serious human reproductive health hazard. T he estimated overall needlestick injury rate for this group of health care professionals was 9.3 sticks per 100 person-years (PYs) of practi se, comparable to reported rates among health care workers such as nur ses, laboratory technicians and hospital housekeeping staff. Accountin g for underreporting of the stick events, the actual injury rate is li kely to be at least 20 sticks per 100 PYs. When stick rates were estim ated by clinical practice type (small animal, large animal and mixed p ractice), all-small-animal and mixed-practice veterinarians demonstrat ed the highest rates, with all-large-animal practitioners demonstratin g a rate lower by about 40%.