A report says more than half of U.S. surgical residents fail to report when they accidentally stick themselves with needles and sharp instruments.
Researchers at Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins University conducted the survey of 699 doctors who in 2003 were surgical residents at 17 medical centers in the United States.
The report said failure to report the incidents puts surgeons, their families and patients at risk of blood-borne diseases including AIDS and hepatitis, The New York Times said Thursday.
The study was published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
The surgical residents said they failed to report the injuries because doing so would take too much time, could jeopardize career opportunities and might cause a loss of face among peers, the newspaper said.
The confidential survey found that 99 percent of the participants had experienced at least one needle stick by the end of their fifth year of surgical training.
Of these, 51 percent failed to report their injuries to an employee health service, the report said.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International
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