Needle Injuries Medical Students Often Go Unreported

For medical students, real experience begins not in a classroom but at a teaching hospital. These doctors in training are supervised. But sometimes accidents happen and the students get injured. They might stick themselves with a needle while treating patients. Such needle sticks are common. But a recent study found that medical students often fail to report them.

In recent, researchers at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Mary Land, did the study. Almost sixty percent of medical students said they had suffered needle stick injuries when they were in medical school. Many said they were stuck more than once. But nearly half of those whose most recent incident happened in school did not report it to an employee health office.

It is scary thing, I feel. This case will lead up to medical error, and most bad case is H.I. V or other infectious disease. Martin Makary, the lead author of the study, said doctors should protect their hands by wearing two sets of gloves. I agree with his opinion, and I wish doctors including medical students should report their injuries and such infectious disease will never happen.