SEE IF YOU CAN TELL FACT FROM FICTION. From cost savings to Candida, Clinical Mythbusters tackles questions you face every day. To get Clinical Mythbusters FREE every month, sign up now!
With awareness of the importance of sharps safety
at an all-time high, needle sticks and related caregiver injuries are now a rare occurrence.
False
According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH):
"While the science base on needlestick injuries continues to grow, completed research indicates that such injuries are an important and continuing cause of exposure to serious and sometimes fatal infections among healthcare workers. Greater collaborative efforts by all stakeholders are needed to prevent needlestick injuries and the consequences that can result."(1)
NIOSH reports that there are up to 385,000 sharps-related injuries per year, and that at an average hospital, workers incur approximately 30 reported needlestick injuries per 100 beds per year. Thirty-eight percent of these injuries occur when a needle or sharp device being manipulated in a patient dislodges accidentally. The remainder of injuries occur after use, during cleanup or in association with the disposal of a sharp device.
With that in mind, NIOSH recommends "a hierarchical approach for implementing strategic measures to prevent needlestick injuries...If safe and effective alternatives to needles are not available, devices with engineered sharps injury prevention features such as shields and sheaths should be used."(1)
Action on this issue is even being taken on the state level. Tennessee, for example, has adopted its own sharps injury prevention provisions as a way to drive compliance.(2)
REFERENCES:
(1) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, www.cdc.gov/niosh/ndletest.html.
(2) "Together with TOSHA," A Publication of the Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development, Spring 2006.
See the full list of mythbusters
Learn what's true and false about catheters and sign up for
our free bulletin on catheters and related subjects
Institute of Healthcare Improvement
5 million lives campaign
The 5 Million Lives Campaign is a voluntary initiative to protect patients from five million incidents of medical harm over the next two years (December 2006 – December 2008).
- IHI 5 Million Lives Website
- Overview
- Participants
- Implement the Central Line Bundle
- IHI Getting Started Kit: Prevent Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia How-to Guide
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Recommendations of CDC and the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee
