Authors

1Diego Sorli Latorre 1Patricia Sorli Latorre 1Noelia Rubio Lahoz 1Luis Alfonso Hijós Larraz

Position

1Enfermero/a, Hospital Miguel Servet.

Contact address

Diego Sorli Latorre C/ Viñedo Viejo 2, escalera 8, 4º A. 50009 Zaragoza.

Contact email: diegoette@hotmail.com

Abstract

Objective: to understand the relationship between the knowledge and attitudes acquired by Nursing students, and the rate of accidents with biologic material.
Method: a transversal descriptive study was conducted on those students registered at the University School of Nursing in Huesca, during the 2011 academic term; students were registered in the
second, third and fourth year, and they had taken partially or completely some of the subjects in Clinical Nursing I, II or III. Data collection was conducted through the Merino de la Hoz Questionnaire, which contains variables regarding demographic data, knowledge about global precautions, protocol to be followed in case of biological
accident and biosafety measures, opinion of the training­ received and logistics, attitudes for adopting biosafety measures, and
characteristics of biological accidents occurred.
Results: the questionnaire was answered by 99 students, out of which 40 belonged to the second year (40.4%), 28 to the third year (28.3%) and 31 to the fourth year (31.3%). Over 92% of respondents stated that they had knowledge about standard precautions and biosafety measures; knowledge of the protocol of action in case of accident was significantly higher in third year students. Professional­ risks due to exposure and the ability of seroconversion by each virus were the least known aspects. Significant differences were found among courses in terms of adopting biosafety measures.
The total number of accidents occurred was 16; 13 of these occurred in the second year, most of them caused by lack of precaution
during the administration of an injection, and during needle re-
capping.
Conclusions: even though students claim they have knowledge of global precautions and biosafety measures, their implementation could be improved, particularly during the initial clinical practices.

Keywords:

Biological accident; biosafety measures; occupational risk prevention; Nursing students; clinical practices; knowledgeattitudes

Versión en Español

Título:

Prevención de accidentes biológicos en los estudiantes de Enfermería