Abstract

 

Health-care workers have high risk of acquiring serious blood-borne infections.  Laboratory personnel frequently experience injuries during blood withdrawal or laboratory procedures. We applied a questionnaire for staff working in Malatya State Hospital Biochemistry Laboratory to learn the annual incidence of needle-stick injury and their post-exposure reaction. Of the 41 participants, 12 subjects had experienced 15 exposures, half of the wounded informed the committee and only 3 of them (%25) received post-exposure prophylaxis. Laboratory personnel should be vaccinated for hepatitis B infection before contract, undergo periodic training courses and encourage them to report the exposure.

Key Words: Biochemistry laboratory, Hepatitis B infection, Needle-stick injury