Blood Exposure Incidence Rates from the North Carolina Study of Home Care and Hospice Nurses

Details

• Personal Author:
  Humphrey CJ ; Kendra MA ; Klein C ; Leiss, Jack K. ; Lyden JT ; Mathews R ; Mav D ; Sitzman KL ; Vanderpuije A
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: Home care/hospice nurses may be at elevated risk of blood exposure because of the nature of their work and work environment. However, little is known about the incidence of blood exposure in this population. METHODS: A mail survey (n = 1,473) was conducted among home care/hospice nurses in North Carolina in 2006. RESULTS: The adjusted response rate was 69%. Nine percent of nurses had at least one exposure/year. Overall incidence was 27.4 (95% confidence interval: 20.2, 34.6)/100,000 visits. Nurses who had worked in home care < or =5 years had higher exposure rates than other nurses-seven times higher for needlesticks and 3.5 times higher for non-intact skin exposures. Nurses who worked part time/contract had higher exposure rates than nurses who worked full time-seven times higher for needlesticks and 1.5 times higher for non-intact skin exposures. The rates for part-time/contract nurses with < or =5 years experience were extremely high. Sensitivity analysis showed that it is unlikely that response bias had an important impact on these results. CONCLUSIONS: Approximately 150 North Carolina home care/hospice nurses are exposed to blood annually. If these results are representative of other states, then approximately 12,000 home care/hospice nurses are exposed each year nationwide. Improved prevention efforts are needed to reduce blood exposure in home care/hospice nurses. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Blood Blood-Borne Pathogens Epidemiology Health Personnel Hematologic Diseases Needlestick Injuries Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Preventive Medicine Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Safety Management Surveys And Questionnaires Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Blood Bloodborne-pathogens Home Nursing Incidence Injury-prevention Medical-personnel Needlestick-injuries Nurses Occupational-hazards Preventive-medicine Questionnaires Risk-factors Safety-measures Safety-practices Safety-programs Statistical-analysis Surveys Work-environment Work-practices Worker-health

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• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  North Carolina ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 8 ; Utah
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  99-104
• Volume:
  52
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20034975
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2009 Feb; 52(2):99-104
• Contact Point Address:
  Jack K. Leiss, Epidemiology Research Program, Cedar Grove Institute for Sustainable Communities, 6919 Lee Street, Mebane, NC 27302
• Email:
  jackl@mcmoss.org
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• Performing Organization:
  Constella Group - Durham, North Carolina
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20040901
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  20070630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:86f568b9eb157cb7088424437cc701ede453f81e32b09beacc26e6fa8a9cfb295026e30d0f82f49e191df5970401771cd3bdb5c2e93bdb1de3eb7d3f7cc0c013
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/186982/cdc_186982_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 95.59 KB ]