Insufficient protection against infection with HIV in general and orthopedic surgeons

In a study of the content of occupational health care for hospital workers we carried out a separate study to measure the professional protection used to prevent contamination with HIV or hepatitis B virus. Therefore we carried out a study among Dutch general and orthopaedic surgeons. A questionnaire was sent to a representative sample of this population. The conclusions are that the respondents are relatively poorly informed about HIV and (or) hepatitis risks. A relatively small part of the respondents used protecting instruments; 40 (operating rooms) and 83% (emergency departments) of the respondents did not use safety glasses. The availability of protecting instruments is higher in operating rooms than in emergency departments, but this availability does not imply use of these instruments. The information on occupational contamination risks, the individual safety measures and the quality of the safety glasses are subject to criticism.