HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATORS TOLERANCE OF STAFF NEEDLESTICK INJURIES

OBJECTIVE: To survey hospital administrators regarding their opinions of an acceptable frequency of staff needlestick injury and the frequen cy that would prompt additional preventive action. DESIGN: A simple an onymous questionnaire sent to 960 administrators with one reminder. Da ta were collected regarding hospital size and community role, whether human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients had ever been tre ated, presence of an infection control practitioner, estimation of the proportion of staff vaccinated against hepatitis B, and opinions as t o the acceptable frequency of needlestick accidents and the accident f requency requiring additional action. SETTING: 240 public hospitals in New South Wales, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: The executive officers, dir ectors of medical services, directors of nursing, and safety officers of the hospitals surveyed. RESULTS: The response rate was 50%. Adminis trators' opinions of acceptable accident frequency increased with hosp ital size and (independently of size) with experience with HIV-infecte d patients, and with the presence of a full-time infection control pra ctitioner. Accident frequencies judged to require additional preventiv e action were higher than injury frequencies regarded as acceptable. C ONCLUSIONS: The hospital administrators surveyed accept staff needlest ick injuries as inevitable, the more so in hospitals that have treated known HIV-infected patients and that have full-time infection control practitioners (Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1994;15:307-310).