Baig Salman, Rashid Tahir, Saleem Muhammad
Department of Otolaryngology, Ziauddin University and Hospital, Clifton Campus, 4/B, Shahrah Ghalib, Block-6, Clifton, Karachi, Pakistan.
Ear Nose Throat J. 2015 Sep;94(9):394-8.
The danger to healthcare personnel of acquiring a blood-borne infection accidentally transmitted by a patient is well known. Such an infection can have serious and career-altering implications. Epistaxis, which is the most common emergency seen in ENT practice, poses a great risk of contaminated blood being spattered on the face of the attending medical provider. Areas of possible contamination include the mucosa of the nasal passages, oral cavity, and conjunctiva. Various strategies to prevent contamination have been described in the literature, most of which involve the wearing of protective equipment by the healthcare provider. We conducted a prospective, randomized study of 60 epistaxis patients to determine if a simple surgical mask warn by the patient over his or her mouth would protect the treating physician from aerosolized blood contamination. We found evidence of significant blood splashes on the physician in 8 of the 30 cases (26.7%) in which the patient did not wear a mask, compared with only 4 cases (13.3%) when the mouth mask was worn. We therefore conclude that a patient mouth mask is a simple, inexpensive, and effective way to minimize the risk of aerosolized blood contamination during the treatment of epistaxis.
医护人员意外感染患者传播的血源性病原体的风险众所周知。这种感染可能会产生严重且改变职业生涯的影响。鼻出血是耳鼻喉科实践中最常见的急症，存在污染血液溅到主治医护人员面部的巨大风险。可能被污染的部位包括鼻腔、口腔和结膜的黏膜。文献中描述了各种预防污染的策略，其中大多数涉及医护人员佩戴防护设备。我们对60例鼻出血患者进行了一项前瞻性随机研究，以确定患者在其嘴上佩戴一个简单的外科口罩是否能保护治疗医生免受雾化血液污染。我们发现，在30例患者未戴口罩的病例中，有8例（26.7%）医生身上有明显的血液飞溅，而戴口罩时只有4例（13.3%）。因此，我们得出结论，患者佩戴口罩是一种简单、廉价且有效的方法，可在鼻出血治疗期间将雾化血液污染的风险降至最低。
