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Most US surgeons in training get needlestick injuries, few report them

BMJ 2007; 335 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.39262.449850.DB (Published 05 July 2007) Cite this as: BMJ 2007;335:10
  1. Janice Hopkins Tanne
  1. New York

    By the end of their five years of training in general surgery almost every US surgeon has received at least one needlestick injury. The average is about eight, according to an anonymous survey of 699 residents at 17 medical centres published in the New England Journal of Medicine (2007;356:2695-9).

    Surgeons in training have more needlestick injuries than attending surgeons, scrub nurses, anaesthetists, and other operating room personnel. They have six times as many needlestick injuries as medical residents.

    More than half of the injuries (53%) involved a high risk patient—one with HIV or hepatitis B or C infection or one …

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