Needlestick and sharps injuries among resident physicians: an institutional review

The objective of this study was to investigate the reported incidence of percutaneous injuries among resident physicians. A retrospective review of the Injury Surveillance Database (ISD) was conducted. The subjects included resident physicians reporting to occupational health services between January 2000 and January 2008. A total of 378 percutaneous injuries were reported between 2000 and 2008, of which 285 were needlesticks and 93 were sharps-related injuries. Fifty-six percent of reports were from male resident physicians and 44% were from female resident physicians. Hollow-bore needles (45%) were more commonly reported than suture needles (30%) and the operating room (18%) was found to be the most common place where injuries occurred. We observed a decreasing trend in reportinginjuries as the year of postgraduate training level increased. There was no statistical significance (P=0.5) in reported percutaneous injuries between surgical and nonsurgical resident physicians. The reported percutaneous injuries have displayed a decreasing trend since 2006. Additional surveillance data will be needed for future policy intervention.