Abstract
Objective: To assess the level of knowledge and experience of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among junior doctors.
Methods: A questionnaire was sent to all junior doctors working in two major teaching hospitals in London.
Results: Most junior doctors had heard of PEP (93%) but fewer were aware that it reduced the rate of HIV transmission (76%). Only a minority of doctors (8%) could name the drugs recommended in recent national guidelines and a significant proportion (43%) could not name any. Almost one third (29%) did not know within what period PEP should be administered. This was despite the fact that the majority of respondents (76%) had experienced high risk exposure to potentially infective material at some stage in their careers and that a significant proportion (18%) had sought advice about PEP following potential exposures.
Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the junior hospital doctors in our survey had inadequate knowledge of PEP against HIV despite being at risk of occupational exposure.
Key Words: HIV; post-exposure prophylaxis; needlestick injuries
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (59.2 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Gerberding J. L. Management of occupational exposures to blood-borne viruses. N Engl J Med. 1995 Feb 16;332(7):444–451. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199502163320707. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Henderson D. K. Postexposure chemoprophylaxis for occupational exposures to the human immunodeficiency virus. JAMA. 1999 Mar 10;281(10):931–936. doi: 10.1001/jama.281.10.931. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hettiaratchy S., Hassall O., Watson C., Wallis D., Williams D. Glove usage and reporting of needlestick injuries by junior hospital medical staff. Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 1998 Nov;80(6):439–441. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]