Evaluation of risk and protective factors for work-related bite injuries to veterinary technicians certified in Minnesota

Details

• Personal Author:
  Alexander BH ; Bender JB ; Church, Timothy R. ; Gerberich, Susan G. ; Nordgren LD ; Ryan, Andrew D.
• Description:
  OBJECTIVE: To identify risk and protective factors for work-related bite injuries among veterinary technicians certified in Minnesota. DESIGN: Nested case-control study. SAMPLE: 868 certified veterinary technicians (CVTs). PROCEDURES: A questionnaire was mailed to CVTs who previously participated in a survey regarding work-related injuries and did (cases; 301 surveys sent) or did not (controls; 567) report qualifying work-related animal bite injuries in the preceding 12 months. Descriptive statistics were summarized. Demographic and work-related variables for the month preceding the bite injury (for cases) or a randomly selected month (controls) were assessed with univariate analysis (489 CVTs) and multivariate analysis of a subset of 337 CVTs who worked in small or mixed mostly small animal facilities. RESULTS: Responses were received from 176 case and 313 control CVTs. For the subset of 337 CVTs, risk of bite injury was higher for those < 25 years of age (OR, 3.82; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.84 to 7.94) than for those = 35 years of age, for those who had worked < 5 years (OR, 3.24; 95% CI, 1.63 to 6.45) versus = 10 years in any veterinary facility, and for those who handled = 5 species/d (OR, 1.99; 95% CI, 1.06 to 3.74) versus < 3 species/d. Risk was lower for CVTs who handled < 10 versus = 20 animals/d (OR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.08 to 0.71). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Several work-related factors were associated with the risk of work-related bite injury to CVTs. These findings may serve as a basis for development of intervention efforts and future research regarding work-related injuries among veterinary staff. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aging Animals Behavior Demography Epidemiology Health Personnel Men Occupational Health Preventive Medicine Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Surveys And Questionnaires Veterinarians Women Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Age-groups Demographic-characteristics Exposure-levels Humans Injuries Preventive-medicine Questionnaires Risk-factors Statistical-analysis Surveillance Veterinary-medicine Work-environment Workers

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• ISSN:
  0003-1488
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; Minnesota ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  434-440
• Volume:
  245
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20046020
• Citation:
  J Am Vet Med Assoc 2014 Aug; 245(4):434-440
• Contact Point Address:
  Susan G. Gerberich, Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455
• Email:
  gerbe001@umn.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• Performing Organization:
  University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ce1002635caade4d67b8ceb785ae4deef7bc2e29f1e35b8fb9958c82d632f7184628ce45e5745d17e42e0d675202468ac142f6a3e6c84f2dbec7afa778693422
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/201211/cdc_201211_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 288.27 KB ]