Rates of Exposure to Patient Blood Among Certified Paramedics: Results from the National Study to Prevent Blood Exposure in Paramedics

Details

• Personal Author:
  Baden S ; Boal, Winifred L. ; Jagger J ; Leiss, Jack K. ; Orelien JG ; Ratcliffe, Jennifer M. ; Tierney JA
• Description:
  The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of blood exposure events and the factors associated with these events among currently licensed paramedics. Paramedics were selected using a two-stage design. The first stage involved selecting states from three strata defined by the size of the paramedic population, i.e., >10,000, 10,000-3,001, and less than or equal to 3,000. The second stage involved a simple random sampling of paramedics from a list of licensed paramedics from each selected state. 6,500 questionnaires were mailed to paramedics in California, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas. One state, Illinois, was unable to provide information on licensed paramedics because of privacy restrictions. The questionnaire contained two sections. In the first section, paramedics were asked about current job status, use and availability of equipment and devices, safety procedures, and limited personal demographic information. In the second section, paramedics were asked about blood exposure incidents that occurred within the last 12 months, including the number and location of exposures, whether safety devices or equipment were used, circumstances that contributed to the exposure, and whether the incident was reported. We will present estimates of exposure rates by route of exposure (needlestick and other percutaneous injury, mucous membrane, non-intact skin, and bite) and by selected demographic factors. Exposure rates will be presented using two denominators, i.e., exposure events per patient and exposure events per call. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Demography Emergency Responders Health Personnel Hematologic Tests Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Surveys And Questionnaires
• Keywords:
  Blood-analysis Demographic-characteristics Emergency-responders Exposure-levels Health-care-personnel Occupational-exposure Occupational-health Paramedical-services Questionnaires
• Publisher:
  American Public Health Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Connecticut ; Florida ; Kentucky ; Minnesota ; North Carolina ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 6 ; OSHA Region 9 ; Pennsylvania ; Tennessee ; Texas ; Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20023998
• Citation:
  APHA 131st Annual Meeting and Exposition, San Francisco, California, November 15-19, 2003. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association, 2003 Nov; :61262
• Contact Point Address:
  Surveillance Branch, Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 4676 Columbia Parkway, R-21, Cincinnati, OH 45226
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  APHA 131st Annual Meeting and Exposition, San Francisco, California, November 15-19, 2003
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:19c9a32225a75d2f6f51195ee0da88269b9feef30f09665547956a1d3a029c72814543a4c092a885cabd74944a87effe44669b395f14f1cad055ab6cc2d588ae
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/196024/cdc_196024_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 458.27 KB ]