In the course of their training, many medical students accidentally stick themselves with needles, yet too often fail to report the incidents, according to new research published in the December issue of the journal Academic Medicine. In a survey of 699 medical residents at 17 different hospitals and medical centers, nearly two thirds reported inadvertently sticking themselves at some point during medical school, and many said they’d actually endured more than one accidental jab. Yet of the 415 study participants who reported needle injuries, roughly half admitted that they had never informed hospital authorities.
