The occupational hazards to which nursing professionals are subject while performing their duties are considerable. Hence, this study aimed at analyzing accidents with cutting and piercing instruments involving the nursing team of a university hospital from 2002 to 2006 in order to understand the context in which they occurred. The use of such information can be a prevention tool. This is a descriptive, retrospective, quantitative and qualitative study. Descriptive statistics was used for quantitative analysis and the collective subject discourse was utilized for qualitative observation. By using report forms from the hospital's Epidemiological Surveillance Center, it was possible to identify that type of accident in the studied period. Interviews were targeted at accident victims who had patients with the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/ the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Hepatitis B and C as source patients. The findings showed that a significant lack of knowledge and the banalization of accidents still persist among health care professionals.
Occupational health; Occupational health nursing; Occupational exposure; Exposure to biological agents
