Knowledge and adherence to biosafety procedures among manicures and pedicures in Belo Horizonte

The practice inside Beauty and Aesthetic establishments have attracted the concern of researchers regarding the risk involving the transmission of hepatitis B, C and Human Immunodeficiency. The anxiety stays on the possibility of ignorance of the professionals and their lack of adherence to recommendations of biosafety preconized by national and international agencies, in order to minimize occupational risk and to the customers. This study aimed in general: to analyze the knowledge and adherence of manicures and pedicures to biosafety recommendations; and as specific objectives: to characterize the demographics of manicures / pedicures; to check adherence and knowledge of the professional to the standard precautions actions and the state of serology for hepatitis B and C; identify the processing conditions of materials and disinfection of surfaces; estimate the frequency of accidents with sharp materials; describe the procedure adopted immediately after the accident; determine the main factors associated with the adoption of biosafety actions by the professionals. This was a cross-sectional survey, realized between June of 2012 and March of 2013 in Belo Horizonte. The sample was calculated from the 600 establishments registered officially. Data were tabulated, processed by the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi- square test or Fisher's exact test and logistic regression, with proportion of right answers on the questions of adherence and knowledge, split by the mean. 235 professionals were interviewed, all female, with a median of correct answers in the knowledge issues to biosafety actions (66%) higher than the adherence (61%). There was greater adherence (p<0.05) among professionals older than 31 (58.1%), with fewer children (60%) and more time working in this sector (57.3%). The knowledge (p <0.05) was higher for those with training in various courses (54.8%). It was also notic...