Video observation of sharps handling and infection control practices during routine companion animal appointments

BMC Veterinary Research

Table 2 Sharps handling behaviours observed during 1359 routine companion animal appointments in 47 veterinary clinics

			Independent association with ready availability of an approved sharps disposal container^a
Behaviour	Number of appointments (%)	Number of clinics (%)	OR	95 % CI	p
Uncapping of needle using the mouth	350/1353 (26)	41/47 (87)	ND	ND	ND
Recapping of needle	1137/1353 (84)	47/47 (100)	0.46	0.15–1.38	0.167
Bare sharp left out	237/1359 (17)	38/47 (81)	0.78	0.43–1.43	0.431
All visible sharps placed in disposal container prior to end of appointment	513/1359 (38)	39/47 (83)	15.00	6.67–33.73	<0.001

ND = not determined as availability of a disposal container would not be expected to affect uncapping behaviour
^aA random effect for clinic was included in each model, and in all three models the effect was significant (p for likelihood ratio test vs logistic regression without the random effect <0.001 for all)

ISSN: 1746-6148