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Sharps injuries are common among Mohs surgeons, survey finds

TOPLINE:

More than half of Mohs surgeons report at least one sharps injury in the past year, mostly self-inflicted, survey finds.

METHODOLOGY:

  • Data on the incidence of sharps injuries among dermatologic surgeons is limited.
  • In a cross-sectional analysis of anonymous survey responses from members of the American College of , researchers aimed to determine the incidence and types of sharps injuries among Mohs surgeons.
  • The researchers used descriptive statistics for continuous and nominal variables (percentage and frequencies) to report survey data and Fisher exact or chi-square analysis of categorical variables to obtain P values.

TAKEAWAY:

  • Of the 60 survey respondents, more than half (56.7%) were from single-specialty group practices, 26.6% were from academic practices, and fewer than half (43.3%) had been in practice for 15 or more years.
  • In the past year, 56.7% of respondents experienced at least one sharps injury. Of these, 14.7% involved exposure to a blood-borne pathogen, which translated into an annual exposure risk of 7.6% for any given Mohs surgeon.
  • The top two types of sharps injuries were self-inflicted suture needlestick (76.5%) and other types of self-inflicted needlestick injuries (26.5%).
  • Of respondents who sustained a sharps injury, 44.1% did not report them, while 95% of all survey respondents said they had access to postexposure prophylaxis/protocols at their workplace.
  • The researchers determined that the average annual rate of sharps injury was 0.87.

IN PRACTICE:

  • “In best practices to prevent sharps injuries, the authors recommend that a standardized sharps handling protocol be developed and disseminated for dermatologic surgeons and their staff,” the researchers wrote.

STUDY DETAILS:

  • Faezeh Talebi-Liasi, MD, and Jesse M. Lewin, MD, department of dermatology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, conducted the research. The study was published in Dermatologic Surgery.

LIMITATIONS:

  • The study’s cross-sectional observational design and small sample size was skewed toward single-specialty and academic practices.

DISCLOSURES:

  • The authors reported having no relevant financial disclosures.

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

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