SURGEONS CONCERN AND PRACTICES OF PROTECTION AGAINST BLOODBORNE PATHOGENS

Objective To evaluate surgeons' concern regarding risk awareness and b ehavioral methods of protection against bloodborne pathogen transmissi on during surgery. Methods A 29-item questionnaire was sent to 914 sur geons from two universities and two surgical societies. Results The qu estionnaire was returned by 768 active surgeons. Slight or moderate co ncern about contracting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was reporte d by most surgeons; 8% reported extreme concern and 4% reported no con cern. In total, 605 surgeons reported having been vaccinated against h epatitis B; surgeons in practice <7 years were most likely to be vacci nated. Most surgeons did not routinely use double gloves: 92 of 768 su rgeons reported that they always use double gloves when performing sur gery, and 83 reported that they usually use double gloves. There was a statistically significantly higher proportion of surgeons who always or usually use double gloves who also had hepatitis B vaccinations. Mo st surgeons incorrectly estimated the seroconversion rates with exposu re to a patient with HIV (66% incorrect), hepatitis B (88% incorrect), or hepatitis C (84% incorrect). Most surgeons never or rarely report needle-stick injuries, and only 17% always report needle-stick injurie s. Conclusions Most surgeons underestimate the risk of bloodborne path ogens and do not routinely use double gloves.