<b>Incidences of exposure to sharp-edged material among undergraduate health sciences students</b> - DOI: 10.4025/cienccuidsaude.v8i3.9021

Abstract

The undergraduate student is frequently exposed to the same risks of the assistant team, since their insertion in apprenticeship programs. It was a descriptive study with quantitative approach considering medicine and nursing undergraduate students, in two private universities. The objectives were to identify the incidence of accidents with sharp-edged material, the follow-up rate and the knowledge related to safe practices. Data were collected by semi-structured questionnaire (demographic aspects, students’ knowledge and attitude for the adoption of biosafety measures, accidents with sharp-edged material, vaccination status and conducts adopted as a result of an accident). The incidence of the accidents was 3.4% among nursing students and 23.8% amid medicine. The recapping of the needles was mentioned to happen always and sometimes by 63.8% of medicine students and 32.5% by nursing. The knowledge on biosafety measures seemed unsatisfactory. It is suggested a better approach of this topic to have ideal conducts and believes, looking for future professionals being conscious and reflexive, confident on their practices, and assuring an emphasis on risk reduction for them and their patients.