Occupational exposure to blood and body fluids among health care workers at hospitals in Aksum town, Tigray, Ethiopia 2019

ABSTRACT Background and purpose: Occupational exposure to blood and body fluids is a daily risk faced by health care workers. The most common pathogens that can be transmitted are HBV, HCV and HIV. The aim of the study is to assess occupational exposure to blood and body fluids and associated factors, among health care workers. Methodology: Hospital based Cross-sectional study was conducted. Simple random sampling was applied to select 219 study subjects. Data was collected by using structured self-administered questionnaire. Result: The study revealed that 53.88% of health care workers (HCWs) had experienced Occupational exposure to Blood and Body fluids. HCWs who did not wear gloves during the last health care procedure were 1.98 times more likely to be occupationally exposed to BBFs than those who wore gloves during the last health care procedure (AOR 1.98, 95% CI 1.04-3.22). Health care workers who had working experience of greater than ten years were 4.13 times more exposed to blood and body fluids than those having less than two year work experience (AOD 4.13, CI, (1.56-10.91)). And among the exposed HCWs, majorities were Nurses accounting 62.56% of the exposed HCWs. Conclusion: prevalence of occupational exposure was high among healthcare workers; this exposure was determined by the availability of personal protective equipments (PPEs) in the facilities, training in infection prevention, infection prevention methods with in the hospital and compliance with guidelines. Key Words: Body fluid, Blood, health care workers, Occupational exposure,