Post Exposure Prophylaxis for Occupational Exposures to HIV and Hepatitis B: Our Experience of Thirteen Years at a Rural Based Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital of Western India

Injuries caused by needle sticks and sharps due to unsafe injection practices are the most common occupational hazard amongst health care personnel. The objectives of our study were to determine the existing knowledge and practices of interns and change in their level following an information education and communication (IEC) package regarding safe injection practices and related biomedical waste management and to determine the status of hepatitis B vaccination. We conducted a follow-up study among all (106) interns in a tertiary care teaching hospital, Delhi. A predesigned semistructured questionnaire was used. IEC package in the form of hands-on workshop and power point presentation was used. A highly significant (P<0.001) improvement in the knowledge of interns was observed after intervention with respect to the “three criteria of a safe injection” and cleaning of injection site. Thus, the baseline knowledge of interns was good in certain aspects of injection safety, namely, diseases transmitted by unsafe injections and their prevention. We conclude that IEC intervention package was effective in significantly improving the interns’ knowledge regarding safe injection practices and biomedical waste management. Almost two-thirds of interns were immunised against hepatitis B before the intervention and this proportion rose significantly after the intervention.

Download Full-text

Post exposure prophylaxis for HIV among healthcare workers due to occupational exposure: a record based study at a tertiary care teaching hospital of Kolkata

International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health ◽

10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20211782 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (5) ◽

pp. 2503

Author(s):

Paramita Sarkar ◽

Saibendu Kumar Lahiri

Keyword(s):

Occupational Exposure ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Tertiary Care ◽

Occupational Exposures ◽

Post Exposure Prophylaxis ◽

Care Hospital ◽

Skin Mucus ◽

Needle Stick ◽

Post Exposure ◽

Exposure Prophylaxis

Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) regularly face the risk of exposure to sharp injuries and splashes as an occupational hazard, which presents major risk for acquiring blood-borne infectious agents like human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which can be minimized by taking post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) measures. There are limited studies from India documenting details of PEP for HIV. This record-based study aimed to determine the occurrence of needle stick injuries (NSIs) and other high-risk occupational exposures to blood and body fluids (BBFs) among HCWs in a tertiary care hospital, Kolkata. We aimed to study details of PEP regimens used among HCWs exposed to HIV.Methods: Hospital record was analyzed from reported incidences of occupational exposures to BBFs occurred during the period of October 2013 to March 2019. Information on self-reported incidence of occupational exposure, and post-exposure management were collected.Results: A total of 105 incidents of occupational exposure were registered during study period. Interns (37, 35.2%) were most frequently exposed, followed by physicians (22, 21.0%) and nurse (21, 20.0%). 88 (83.8%) of the personnel sustained NSIs, and 17 (7.2%) had splashes to skin, mucus membranes. There was no significant difference between subjects with splashes to skin, mucus membranes and needle-stick cases regarding discontinuation of post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) (11.8% versus 19.3%, p<0.548). No cases of sero-conversion were reported.Conclusions: In spite of high incidences of exposures to HIV source, good efficacy of PEP was observed with no sero-conversion. PEP for HIV was well tolerated. Study emphasized the need for creating awareness about timely reporting of incidence.

Download Full-text