Descriptive correlational study of knowledge, attitudes and practices related to blood exposure accidents among operating room nurses in the two university hospitals of Sousse.

Introduction: The occupational infectious risk in the health care environment is potentially ubiquitous. Several infectious agents are transmitted to healthcare professionals, especially by blood and body fluids.

Aim: To describe the knowledge; attitudes and practices related to blood exposure accidents (BEA) among operating room nurses and to determine their associated factors.

Methods: A descriptive correlational study was conducted from February 24 to April 10, 2022, among nurses of the operating rooms in the two university hospitals of Sousse using an auto administrated questionnaire inspired from the literature.

Results: Our population was composed of 133 nurses. The average age was 38.79 ±7.75 years and the average length of work was 12.02 ±7.8 years. Overall, the respondents had moderate knowledge about BEA. Indeed, 17.3% did not know the meaning of the acronym BEA. Concerning the attitudes, almost (63.1%) had been the victim of at least one BEA. The most frequent types of BEA were pricks (81%), cuts (37%) and splashes (33.3%). The mechanisms of occurrence were mainly recapping (91.7%) and disposal of health care waste (74.4%). Only 48.1% of respondents had received training on BEA. The systematic use of gloves for health care procedures was unsatisfactory (66.2%). According to the studied practices, in case of injured skin, (82.7%) of the respondents wore gloves if they had any skin lesions. Almost all respondents (90.2%) were vaccinated against hepatitis B. Women had better knowledge about the meaning of the acronym BEA (p=0.011). The comparison of practices showed that recapping dirty needles after use was significantly higher among females than males (p=0.011).

Conclusion: The solid knowledge about the BEA and systematic application of standard precautions in health care settings must be concretely manifested in the daily practices of health professionals.