Accidental injuries and blood exposure to cardiothoracic surgical teams

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A survey was undertaken over a 15-week period (62 working days) to findout the incidence and common mechanism of accidental injuries and bloodexposure in cardiothoracic surgical teams. Two hundred and seventy eventswere reported: 70% glove penetrations, 18% skin punctures, 4% non-bleedingskin lesions and 8% lacerations with bleeding. Eye splashes occurred in 14%of the cases. The risk to the team was higher for cardiac surgery (1.6)than for thoracic surgery (0.5) and endoscopy (0.01). Most of the eventswere self-inflicted by experienced personnel. The surgeon's left indexfinger was most frequently injured, and the majority of the injuries werecaused by needles followed by wire injuries during sternal closure.Prevention should be directed towards a safer technique for sternalclosure, and protection of the surgeon's hands, especially his left indexfinger, should be found. Eye protection with goggles should become routine.This study demonstrates that open heart procedures carry a high risk ofinjury and frequent exposure to blood increasing the risk to the surgicalteam of acquiring viral infections (hepatitis-B and HIV) from thepatients.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: