Publication:

Evaluation of infectious risk among biomedical agents in Morocco

Background The Infectious risk among biomedical technicians and engineers is influenced by many variables like the health and immune status of the worker, the education and training they had, the suitability of the establishment for work with highly pathogenic agents, and availability of protective equipment. We report in this article the results of a survey carried out in the country and which was interested in the perception of the infectious risk by biomedical agents.

Methods It is a descriptive study of the infectious risk among BMTE in Morocco with an assessment of the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors by the use of a questionnaire transmitted to participants by google form.

Results 84 persons participated in the survey. Biomedical agents report that the risk is either direct because they handle microorganisms (20%; 23/84), but above all indirect, since these are situations where they handle contaminated instruments or waste produced during care activities (41.7%; 48/84). The cutaneous route contamination showed a slight predominance (71.6%; 60/84) because they use sharp tools (64.3%; 54/84). Only half know they have to report this kind of incident (56.8%; 48/84) and Less than one in five (17.9%; 15/84) reported these accidents.

Conclusions Moroccan law has not ignored occupational risk and equipment of protection is available in the workplace. However, most of the participants did not receive specialized training in infection risk management, they do not benefit from medical supervision, and immunization and accidents are underreported.