Abstract
Purpose :
While sharp injuries may occur more frequently in residents1-3 than other health care workers, few studies in the US examine sharp injuries in residents1-5 and none specifically examine ophthalmology residents. The purpose of this research is to characterize sharp injuries among ophthalmology residents at a high volume academic center with a high number of resident procedures.
Methods :
A retrospective chart review was conducted of the 27 ophthalmology resident sharp incident reports filed at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary’s (MEEI) occupational health from 2009-2014. An anonymous survey was administered to the 24 current MEEI ophthalmology residents in June 2015.
Results :
The 27 sharp injuries reported to occupational health by ophthalmology residents occurred more frequently to PGY-2s, during oculoplastics procedures and with suture needles. The source patient’s blood was drawn 89% (24/27) of the time, and 12.5% (3/24) of the source patient’s blood was positive. For the anonymous survey, 83% (20/24) responded. Of the respondents, 45% (9/20) self-reported at least one sharp stick during ophthalmology residency, but 2 of these residents failed to report the injuries. The majority (71%, 5/7) of those who reported the stick felt the reporting process was very easy to reasonable, with 29% (2/7) reporting that it was cumbersome. 70% of respondents knew how to report a sharp injury at the primary teaching site, but only 10-20% knew how to do so at the other 7 sites. Qualitative comments were collected about factors contributing to the injury and reasons for non-reporting.
Conclusions :
Education in sharp safety to decrease injuries and improve reporting rates may be helpful.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.