Yousuf A Lakdawala, Uzma Urooj, Faiza Ahmed, Eman A Khaled, Sonam Ahsan.
Incidence of usage of universal precautions in accident & emergency departments of few hospitals in Karachi.
Pak J Surg Jan ;28(4):262-5.

Objective: To determine the use of universal precautions in accident and emergency departments of hospitals in Karachi. Material and methods: It was a descriptive, cross-sectional study, and convenient sampling was used. 86 participants were given the questionnaires for the survey from JPMC, Bismillah Taqee and Sir Syed hospital. Verbal consent was taken from all hospitals before the disribution of the questionnaires. SPSS version 17.0 was used for the analysis of the collected data. Results: 65.5% of our samples are aware of universal precautions and their use. However, the majority uses gloves only (41.7%) whereas the least used are goggles or eye protection (7.1%). 56% of our sample use double gloves as a precautionary measure. Th e precautions used in minimum frequency aft er eye protections are caps, plastic aprons and masks, respectively. Despite of a low utilization of universal precautions 77.4% have been splashed with body fl uids while delivering treatment. Th e most common reason for not adopting any precautions was limited availability followed by shoratge of time. Conclusion: Majority despite of being aware of universal precautions only give preference to the use of gloves. Double gloving is adopted by half of our sample. Wearing eye protection is the least adopted measure, followed by caps, plastic aprons and masks. Th ose who do not take up any measures claim limited availability as the most important cause, followed by shortage of time.

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