survey of occupational injuries and knowledge on standard precautions about aids and hepatitis among faculty members, students and educational staff of dentistry school in isfahan university of medical sciences, iran

background: because dental staff members are in continuous contact with blood and contaminated fluids of patients, they are considered as a high risk group. their knowledge about standard precautions is thus important in preventing infectious diseases such as hepatitis and human immunodeficiency virus (hiv). the purpose of this study was to estimate the injuries that occur in dental staff and their knowledge about preventive approaches. methods: in this cross-sectional study, stratified random sampling was used to select 156 participants from faculty members, students, and educational staff of school of dentistry, isfahan university of medical sciences, isfahan, iran. data was collected by a questionnaire and analyzed in spss 16 . findings: only about 10% of the participants who were students had moderate levels of knowledge about standard precautions. however, others had poor knowledge. in addition, 30.31% of the injuries related to needle stick, 30.8% related to eyes, mouth and nose injuries via blood and other infected fluids, 30.31% had sharp equipment injuries, and 8.6% had skin damage with blood and other infected fluids. conclusion: the results of this study showed an inappropriate level of knowledge about standard precautions in the target group. therefore, implementation of continuous educational programs is highly recommend.