Shareef S M Nada¹*, Mohammedalfatih Abdalgadir², Kamaleldin E I Sabir³, Dalia A E Abuzeid⁴ and Muhammad F Azzedin⁵

¹Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon, Sudan
²Orthopedic Department, Police Hospital, Qatar
³MBBS, Sudan
⁴MRCP, UK
⁵MBBS, Oman

*Corresponding Author: Shareef S M Nada, Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon, SMSB, Sudan.

Received: August 13, 2021; Published: August 26, 2021

Abstract

Background: Surgical residents have the greatest risk of exposure to blood-borne pathogens while learning a new surgical skill. However, this risk could be decreased by adherence to standard precautions (SPs) and by better knowledge and effective practice after exposure. 

Objectives: To determine the level of Knowledge and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and hepatitis C as well as practices among the rotating surgical residents when they exposed to different types of infection transmission from the patients.

Methodology: KAP Survey: the questionnaire was handed to 63 previously identified surgical residents (by Simple random selection). Questionnaires were filled between April 2^nd 2018 and June 2^nd 2019. 

Results: The incidence of sharp objects injuries was found to be 84.1%. 74.6% of respondents claimed that they followed SPs. General surgery trainees showed better knowledge and attitude in the emergency room (ER) than orthopedics residents (p = 0.04) but overall, this is below the expected level.

While 60.3% of respondents are not vaccinated against Hepatitis B virus (HBV), 23% of them attended a training course in biosafety. 41% did not read a book or even an article about infection control while 23% have neither enough knowledge nor safe practice at operating theaters.

Regarding immunoglobulins and booster vaccine time of administration 70% of trainees lack the knowledge about proper timing for taking immunoglobulins against HBV. 49% answered that they will take a booster vaccine. 51% do not know when to test themselves if injured by a known Hepatitis C virus (HCV) patient. 31.4% answered by testing themselves properly if injured by a known Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) patient. The timing of receiving post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) after exposure was known only to 11.8% of the candidates.

Among three trainees (6%) injured by known positive Hepatitis B Surface Antigen (HBsAg) patients only one of them was vaccinated. Two trainees did the advanced measures but one trainee, who was not vaccinated, did only the simple measures by removing the gloves and washing the wound. No one was injured by a known patient with HCV or HIV. 

Overall, 25.4% of respondents demonstrate an acceptable level of knowledge, attitude and practice. There was no significant difference between orthopedics and general surgery trainees. However, that level is not correlated to what trainees think about their adherence to safety measures.

Conclusion: In conclusion, this study showed significant decline in the levels of knowledge, attitude and practices among the residents in protecting themselves against famous blood- borne diseases. Nevertheless, more than half of surgical trainees will react ineffectively to sharp object injuries if exposed to possible carriers of hepatitis B, C or HIV viruses.

Keywords: Standard Precautions (SPs); HIV/AIDS; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis C; Hepatitis B Surface Antigen (HBsAg); Hepatitis C Virus (HCV); Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP)

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Citation

Citation: Shareef S M Nada., et al. “Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Surgical Residents Handling Possible Carriers of Hepatitis B, C or HIV Viruses".Acta Scientific Orthopaedics 4.9 (2021): 61-76.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2021 Shareef S M Nada., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.