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Hand dexterity in hospital personnel with multiple needlestick injuries
J E Casanova1, G P Barnas, J Gollup
1Department of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee 53226.
Objective:
To test the hypothesis that multiple needlestick injuries in hospital employees may be due to intrinsic deficits in hand dexterity.
Design:
A case-control study comparing employees with multiple reported needlestick injuries to those with none. Hand dexterity was tested using the Purdue Pegboard Test, a standardized validated test of hand dexterity.
Setting:
A 300-bed, acute care teaching hospital.
Participants:
Fifteen hospital employees who sustained four or more injuries were compared to 19 controls.
Results:
No differences were detected in hand dexterity between the case and control groups.
Conclusions:
While employees with multiple needlestick injuries accounted for 85% of reported injuries, underlying factors responsible for injuries in this high-risk subgroup do not include measurable deficits in hand dexterity.