REDUCING THE OCCUPATIONAL RISK OF INFECTIONS FOR THE SURGEON - MULTICENTRIC NATIONAL SURVEY ON MORE THAN 15,000 SURGICAL-PROCEDURES

The objective of this study was to find the incidence of accidental ex posures to blood and body fluids among surgeons during operations and to describe their dynamics. A probabilistic model was also used to pre dict the cumulative 30-year risk to the surgeon of contracting hepatit is B and C viruses (HBV, HCV) or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in fection and estimate the effect of preventive strategies in reducing t his risk A multicentric prospective survey, based on self-administered questionnaires, was conducted during a period of 6 months in 39 Itali an hospitals. An accidental exposure to blood or body fluids occurred in 9.2% of 15,375 operations. In about 2% of procedures a parenteral-t ype injury, such as actual skin puncture or eye contamination, was suf fered by the operating surgeon. A needle-stick injury was the commones t accident, and its occurrence was found to vary with the phase of the procedure and its length. The current lifetime risk of acquiring HBV, HCV, and HIV infection in our regions was estimated to be as high as 42.7%, 34.8%, and 0.54%, respectively. The adoption of preventive stra tegies is expected to reduce this risk to 21% for HBV, 16.6% for HCV, and 0.23% for HIV infection. Active immunization of surgeons against H BV is strongly recommended. The case is also made far the use of a fac e-shield combined with a permanent change in our surgical practice cap able of reducing the current high rate of parenteral injuries.