Body fluid exposure in an urban tertiary care medical center

The increasing prevalences of the human immunodeficiency (HIV) and hepatitis B viruses have focused attention on the risks that health care workers face when exposed to potentially infective body fluids. This study establishes a profile of 320 parenteral exposure incidents and 47 exposure incidents to mucous membranes or abraded skin, reported in our medical center between July 1988 and July 1990. We found that 102 (27.8%) of the incidents involved an HIV-positive patient, that 130 (35.4%) of the reporting employees had completed their hepatitis B vaccination at the time of the incident, and that, although the majority of incidents involved employees with patient contact, unfortunately, service workers also were represented (4.6%, n = 17). Factors contributing to incidents included recapping (10.9%, n = 40), full needle-boxes (7.6%, n = 28), and inappropriate disposal (13.1%, n = 48). A health fair featuring walk-in hepatitis B immunization attracted 260 participants, 90% of whom completed the entire immunization series. This significantly improved the immunization rate of employees subsequently reporting body fluid exposure.