Profile of registered cases of occupational exposure to HIV in a referral hospital

Abstract

A Workplace Accident involving Biological Material (WBA) is one in which the worker comes into contact with potentially contaminated blood and organic fluids. The aim was to determine the profile of cases of occupational exposure to the HIV virus in a referral hospital. This is a retrospective documentary study with a quantitative approach, carried out at the Clementino Fraga Hospital Complex. The population universe of 270 occupational accident records in 2018 indicated this number of cases that were treated at the Hospital Complex, resulting in a sample of 159 medical records. The proposed instrument was a form containing objective questions that addressed socioeconomic data and the objectives of the study. Data collection took place in March and April 2019. It was approved by the Research Ethics Committee. The documents collected showed that the profile of the sample investigated was predominantly female (86%), aged between 20 and 40 (73%), brown (91%) and nursing technician (47%). Considering the object of the study, it was found that in 53% of cases exposure was reported within 12 hours, in 87% the type of exposure was percutaneous, in 59% the organic material involved was blood, in 58% a needle with a lumen was the agent and in 25% improper disposal of sharp material was the most common circumstance. Turning to the preventive aspect, gloves were the PPE most used by professionals in their work (32%). However, a worrying fact was the almost proportional percentage of professionals who reported not using any type of PPE (30%). In addition, 79% of the workers had complete vaccination status, 42% of the cases did not know the source patient and, among the sample of the source patient variable, 52% had an unknown serological result. With regard to the outcome of the accident, 43% of the documents indicated the need for ART, 50% of the sample abandoned the treatment outlined by the doctor and 35% were discharged due to the negative serology of the source patient. Based on the main findings, we would like to draw attention to the need to start prophylaxis in the first two hours after the accident, the need to be careful when disposing of materials perforated during work activities, the need to be vigilant when using mandatory PPE in care practices, the need to know the source patient when carrying out the protocol and the need to actively seek out accident victims who abandon the recommended care.