Many medical students sustain needle-stick injuries, data indicate.

Moral of the story: Reporting needs to be made simpler, faster.

Source: AMA Morning Rounds 11/30/09

Many medical students sustain needle-stick injuries, data indicate.

The Los Angeles Times (11/25) "Booster Shots" blog reported that, according to research appearing in the Dec. issue of the journal Academic Medicine, "medical students often come in too-close contact with needles, possibly putting them at risk for contracting HIV or hepatitis C." The survey of "699 surgeons-in-training at 17 general surgery residency programs," showed that "almost 60 percent said they sustained a needle-stick injury as a medical student, with many suffering two injuries."

        Those "who had been stuck in medical school" also "had a 2.51-fold increased risk of needle-stick injury involving a high-risk patient -- one with a history of intravenous drug use or infection with HIV, HBV, or HCV," MedPage Today (11/27, Fiore) reported. But, data indicated that 47 percent of respondents who "sustained their most recent needle-stick injury during medical school" failed to "report their injury to an employee health office." Researchers found that "the most common reason for not doing so was the amount of time involved in making a report."