Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Email: heshrash@hotmail.com
  • 2 Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 3 Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Med J Malaysia, 2008 Aug;63(3):222-3.
PMID: 19248694

Abstract

Health care workers (HCW) are at high risk of acquiring blood-borne diseases. This study compared the risk of infection among HCW in different hospital units and also between HCW and students in medical fields. This cross-sectional study involved pre-tested questionnaires that were completed by 625 HCW and undergraduate students undergoing clinical attachments from February to August 2001. The respondents were separated into two groups: i) HCW from Hospital Kuala Lumpur, HKL (n=241) and Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, HUKM (n=153) ii) Medical students from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, UKM (n=171) and HUKM student nurses (n=60). The results obtained showed that the risk of transmission of blood-borne infections varied significantly according to professional ranks (p<0.05) and to hospital units (p<0.05). The medical intensive care (ICU), haemodialysis, and nephrology and urology units had the highest scores for the risk of infection while the diagnostic laboratory had the lowest risk of infection (p<0.05). Preventive measures taken by the subjects in this study were not satisfactory especially with reference to the use of personal protective equipment and the practice of universal precautions.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.