SHBC1630

Y.Y.V.WONG¹, L.R.L.LANG¹, K.M.T.LOW²

National Healthcare Group Polyclinics¹, National Healthcare Group HQ²

Dental staff are exposed to risk of percutaneous injuries as most of the instruments used in dental procedures are sharp. The aim is to identify the circumstances and the staff category involved. This provides opportunities for targeted intervention and to prevent and reduce percutaneous injury.

Percutaneous injuries were reported through Incident Reporting System (IRIS) from 2018 to 2020. It includes staff name, nature and extent involved. Statistical analysis was carried out to find associations between injuries and staff category and risk for staff category.

There were 27 injuries from 2018 to 2020. Sharp injuries were not significantly associated with job categories P-value=0.196 (>0.01). Dentists had highest occurrences of 20 (74%) incidences. The odds of sustaining an injury for dental assistants is 56% lower than the odds of sustaining an injury for dental officers (OR=0.44, 95% CI: 0.16 to 1.04). The odds of sustaining an injury for health therapists is 32% lower than the odds of sustaining an injury for dental officers (OR=0.68, 95% CI: 0.04 to 3.51). Percutaneous injuries were significantly associated with staff with <1year experience (P-value < 0.01). The odds of sustaining an injury for those who have more than 1year experience is 74% lower than the odds of sustaining an injury for who has less than 1year experience (OR=0.26, 95% CI: 0.11 to 0.59).

The risk of sustaining a percutaneous injury is high among new staff, especially among dental officers. Reporting, analyzing and targeting interventions can help to prevent and reduce percutaneous injuries.