Reduce the Risk of Sharps Injuries

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each year in the U.S. approximately 385,000 sharps-related injuries are sustained by hospital-based personnel.¹ Up to 70% of nurses and doctors have experienced a needlestick or sharp injury, with nearly 44% occurring in the operating room and almost 24% occurring in patient or exam rooms.

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The top 3 most frequent devices causing injury include:

• 24% Suture
• 17% Disposable Syringe
• 7% Blood Collection/Winged Needle or Tube Holder²

There are many ways to prevent sharps injuries: double gloving, using correct technique, creating a neutral zone, and using alternative engineering control methods.³

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Original Article: https://www.ansell.com/us/en/blogs/intouch/library/reduce-the-risk-of-sharps-injuries#

References

¹Updated 2020. Accessed February 1, 2022. https://internationalsafetycenter.org/exposure-reports/

²International Safety Center. U.S. EPINet Sharps Injury and Blood and Body Fluid Exposure Surveillance Research Group. Sharps Injury Data Report for 2020. Report available at
CDC. Workbook for Designing, Implementing and Evaluating a Sharps Injury Prevention Program. CDC website. https://www.cdc.gov/sharpssafety/pdf/sharpsworkbook_2008.pdf. Published 2008. Accessed January 31, 2022.

³CDC. Stop Sticks Campaign. CDC Website. https://www.cdc.gov/nora/councils/hcsa/stopsticks/default.html. Updated February 22, 2019. Accessed February 1, 2022.

[This guest column was written by Dana Goossen, MSN, RN, Clinical Education Manager, Northeast – Ansell.]