Hospital administrators' tolerance of staff needlestick injuries.

OBJECTIVE

To survey hospital administrators regarding their opinions of an acceptable frequency of staff needlestick injury and the frequency that would prompt additional preventive action.

DESIGN

A simple anonymous questionnaire sent to 960 administrators with one reminder. Data were collected regarding hospital size and community role, whether human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients had ever been treated, presence of an infection control practitioner, estimation of the proportion of staff vaccinated against hepatitis B, and opinions as to the acceptable frequency of needlestick accidents and the accident frequency, requiring additional action.

SETTING

240 public hospitals in New South Wales, Australia.

PARTICIPANTS

The executive officers, directors of medical services, directors of nursing, and safety officers of the hospitals surveyed.

RESULTS

The response rate was 50%. Administrators' opinions of acceptable accident frequency increased with hospital size and (independently of size) with experience with HIV-infected patients, and with the presence of a full-time infection control practitioner. Accident frequencies judged to require additional preventive action were higher than injury frequencies regarded as acceptable.

CONCLUSIONS

The hospital administrators surveyed accept staff needlestick injuries as inevitable, the more so in hospitals that have treated known HIV-infected patients and that have full-time infection control practitioners.