Use of gloves and reduction of risk of injury caused by needles or sharp medical devices in healthcare workers: results from a case-crossover study

Details

• Personal Author:
  Fisman DN ; Harris AD ; Kinlin LM ; Mittleman MA ; Rubin MA
• Description:
  OBJECTIVE: Standard precautions are advocated for reducing the number of injuries caused by needles and sharp medical devices ("sharps injuries"), but the effectiveness of gloves in preventing such injuries has not been established. We evaluated factors associated with gloving practices and identified associations between gloving practices and sharps-injury risk. DESIGN: Usual-frequency case-crossover study. SETTING: Thirteen medical centers in the United States and Canada. PARTICIPANTS: Six hundred thirty-six healthcare workers who presented to employee health clinics after sharps injury. METHODS: Structured telephone questionnaires were administered to assess usual behaviors and circumstances at the time of injury. RESULTS: Of 636 injured healthcare workers, 195 were scrubbed in an operating room or procedure suite when injured, and 441 were injured elsewhere. Nonscrubbed individuals were more commonly gloved when treating patients who were perceived to have a high risk of human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B virus, or hepatitis C virus infection than when treating other patients (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.53 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.30-4.91]). Nurses (aOR, 0.11 [95% CI, 0.04-0.32]) and other employees (aOR, 0.24 [95% CI, 0.07-0.77]) were less commonly gloved at injury than were physicians and physician trainees. Gloves reduced injury risk in case-crossover analyses (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 0.33 [95% CI, 0.22-0.50]). In scrubbed individuals, involvement in an orthopedic procedure was associated with double gloving at injury (aOR, 13.7 [95% CI, 4.55-41.3]); this gloving practice was associated with decreased injury risk (IRR, 0.20 [95% CI, 0.10-0.42]). CONCLUSIONS: Although the use of gloves reduces the risk of sharps injuries in health care, use among healthcare workers is inconsistent and may be influenced by risk perception and healthcare culture. Glove use should be emphasized as a key element of multimodal sharps-injury reduction programs. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Delivery Of Health Care Hazardous Substances Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Health Personnel Needlestick Injuries Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Safety Management Staff Development Surveys And Questionnaires Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Gloves Health-care-personnel Health-hazards Injury-prevention Medical-care Medical-monitoring Medical-personnel Needlestick-injuries Questionnaires Risk-analysis Risk-factors Safety-measures Safety-practices Training Work-analysis Work-environment Work-practices

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• ISSN:
  0899-823X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  31
• Issue:
  9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20037914
• Citation:
  Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2010 Sep; 31(9):908-917
• Contact Point Address:
  Research Institute of the Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2010
• Performing Organization:
  Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20020901
• Source Full Name:
  Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology
• End Date:
  20060831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:981ce015fe85979d8d4647068e68fb6619ea06e922d1284063be53b59bbe4fe908cf142a4be465a6d21e1bff5b89d0b35bfe1dc39db3af9d80fa7ffed79be00f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/191830/cdc_191830_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.09 MB ]