The Effectiveness of Intervention to Reduce Blood-Borne Pathogen Exposure Incidents in Healthcare Workers in the Largest Clinical Setting in Slovenia
Nevenka ŠESTAN
Profil Orcid, Lijana ZALETEL-KRAGELJ
Profil Orcid oraz Alenka FRANKO
- University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Clinical Institute of Occupational MedicineLjubljana, Slovenia
- University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Medicine, Chair of Public HealthLjubljana, Slovenia
Profil Orcid 
Kategoria artykułu: Original scientific article
Data publikacji: 28 lut 2025
Zakres stron: 73 - 84
Otrzymano: 29 sie 2024
Przyjęty: 18 gru 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sjph-2025-0010
Słowa kluczowe
© 2025 Nevenka ŠESTAN et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
Aim
Aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of intensified organised training programmes introduced in 2016 and 2017 for raising awareness of the problem of blood-borne incidents (BBIs), the objective was to analyse the incidence of reported BBIs (RBBI) over a 15-year period in different groups of healthcare workers (HCWs) employed at the University Medical Centre in Ljubljana (UMCL).
Methods
All UMCL incidents that occurred and were reported from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2022 were included in the study. The entire period was divided into two observation periods, 2008-2017 and 2017-2022. For testing a linear trend, whenever applicable a piecewise/segmented linear regression was applied, with the year 2017 as a break-point.
Results
In the 2008-2017 period, the trend of annual incidence risk was mostly on the increase. The increase was statistically significant in medical doctors (MDs) and dental medicine doctors (DMDs) (p<0.001) as well as in other occupational groups (p=0.015). In the 2017-2022 period, the decrease was statistically significant in females (p=0.011), in MDs and DMDs (p=0.007), in nurses (p=0.021) and in HCWs in the Surgery Division (p=0.023).
Conclusion
The results of the present study suggest that measures introduced in the UMCL were partially effective. The findings could serve as a basis for the development of improved programmes for better prevention, reporting and reducing the consequences of blood-borne pathogen exposure incidents among HCWs not only in Slovenia, but also worldwide.