How we do it: Blood contamination during management of epistaxis – awareness, utilization and availability of barrier protection

Abstract

There is a significant risk of blood contamination during the non-surgical management of epistaxis. Contamination beyond gloves happens in 55% of cases and the contamination risk to eyes as high as 18%. There is a lack of awareness and a majority of ENT doctors underestimate this risk. Protective barrier equipment and eye protection in particular are suboptimally available in all clinical areas where epistaxis is dealt with. Consequently, there is poor utilization of protective barrier equipment.