Management of occupational bloodborne exposure in a dental teaching environment

The aims of this cross-sectional study were to investigate the prevalence of reporting occupational accidents regarding exposure to biological material among undergraduate students of dentistry at an institution of higher education and to estimate risk factors associated with underreporting. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire, which had an 86.4 percent rate of return. The sample was made up of 286 undergraduate dental students enrolled in the clinical component of the curriculum, corresponding to the final six semesters of study. The average age of the subjects was 22.4 years. Descriptive, bivariate, simple logistic regression and multiple logistic regression (Stepwise Forward Procedure) analyses were performed, with the significance level set at p< or =0.05. Of the total 167 individuals who had been exposed to biological material, 120 (71.9 percent) failed to report the accidents. The variables that were statistically associated with the nonreporting of occupational accidents were nonexposure to blood (OR=4.0; CI 95%: 1.7-10.0) and the fact that the students considered the exposure to be minor or of low risk (OR=8.8; CI 95%: 3.5-23.0) or considered the protocol adopted by the institution to be inadequate (OR=5.2; CI 95%: 1.2-17.1). The development of a procedure review policy is recommended with the aim of establishing continuous vigilance and encouraging the reporting of bloodborne exposure.