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15. Grazer Konferenz – Qualität der Lehre: Teaching and Learning – Expanding our Resources

28. - 30. April 2011, Wien, Österreich

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Needle stick injuries among medical students: The role of medical curricula

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  • corresponding author Martin Hoenigl - Medical University of Graz, Division of Pulmonology, Graz, Austria
  • author Helmut J.F. Salzer - Medical University of Graz, Division of Pulmonology, Graz, Austria
  • Katharina Seeber - AGES Pharm med, Vienna, Austria
  • author Thomas Valetin - Medical University of Graz, Division of Pulmonology, Graz, Austria
  • author Robert Krause - Medical University of Graz, Division of Pulmonology, Graz, Austria

15. Grazer Konferenz – Qualität der Lehre: Teaching and Learning – expanding our resources. Wien, Österreich, 28.-30.04.2011. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2012. Doc11grako21

doi: 10.3205/11grako21, urn:nbn:de:0183-11grako215

Published: April 25, 2012

© 2012 Hoenigl et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Recent studies showed that the frequency of nonreported needlestick injuries is alarmingly high, especially among medical students.

1200 medical students in the final year of medical education from 11 medical universities including 3 from Austria, 4 from Germany, and 4 from the United Kingdom (UK) were invited to participate in an open online survey.

In the UK, any form of education regarding needlestick injuries reduced the actual risk of experiencing a needlestick injury significantly. In contrast, respondents from Austria and Germany had to attend at least a lecture above 30 minutes of time or a theoretical and practical training to reduce the risk of a needlestick injury significantly, when compared to students who received either a short briefing or no education at all.

Introduction of improved medical curricula including a practical training regarding needle stick injuries may have a significant impact on the frequency of needlestick injuries contributing to a more efficient prevention of occupational infections in medical students.