Assessment of practice and knowledge of health care workers on occupational exposure to blood (Abidjan, Ivory Coast)

Objective - The authors wanted to assess the knowledge of health care workers on management procedures, and infection control measures for accidental exposure to blood (AEB), in the 3 Abidjan teaching hospital. Methods - A cross-sectional study was made from February to April 1999. Physicians, nurses and medical students were requested to answer anonymously a questionnaire on their demographic profile and past percutaneous and mucocutaneous exposure to blood. Results - Nine hundred and thirty six people were solicited but only 707 (75.5%) answered. Four hundred and six (57.4%) were nurses, 184 (26%) were physicians, and 117 (16.6%) were medical students. Overall, 60% of them reported AEB. Needlestick injuries accounted for 44% of reported accidents. The highest frequency of accidents was observed among nurses (22.5%), and physicians (18%). 86.5% of workers having reported an incident claimed to have disinfected the lesion and only 15% reported the accident after injury. 16% had HIV testing performed before the incident. 84.6% agreed with the reporting procedure for occupational exposures and 70% knew about the universal measures of hygiene. 298 of them suggested antiretroviral prophylaxis after exposure to HIV infected blood (HAART 28%), 2 NRTI (16%), and Zidovudine in monotherapy (44%). Conclusion - The risk of AEB is high among health care workers in Abidjan but most accidents were not reported. The importance of compliance with universal precautions, of an occupational exposure reporting procedure, of knowing about source patients' HIV status and prophylactic antiretroviral drugs need to be emphasized. © 2002 Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS.