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National surveillance of occupational blood exposure
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History
In November 2002, the IPH, in collaboration with a scientific steering
group (occupational doctors, prevention advisors, infection control
experts, microbiologists, epidemiologists and emergency staff) started
the development of a national questionnaire form for occupational
blood contact among health care workers. The document used for the
consensus discussions was an EPINet™based*
questionnaire, adapted to the Belgian situation and tested by an
external department for prevention and occupational health (IDEWE)
in the teaching hospitals of Leuven and Ghent.
The actual national questionnaire form is a shortened version but
still comparable version with the original EPINet™ form, (available
in a "full" or "light" version). A balance between
the epidemiological and research interest and the workload associated
to fill out a form by the victim or other concerned departments
was taken into account.
The surveillance started on 1 June 2003.
1The Exposure Prevention Information Network (EPINet™)
is a program for recording and tracking percutaneous injuries and
blood and body fluid contacts developed by the University of Virginia
in 1991. The EPINet™ system is used by more than 1,500 hospitals
in the US and it has also been adopted in other countries, including
Canada, Italy, Spain, Japan and the UK. http://hsc.virginia.edu/medcntr/centers/epinet/
(EL 040617)
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