NEEDLESTICK INJURY PREVENTION AND SAFETY

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Health care workers face a major exposure to a wide variety of hazards in the working environment especially in the medical equipment. Injuries from contaminated needle exposes workers to blood borne pathogens which may lead to serious infections. Most needle stick injuries mostly occur in healthcare settings such as hospitals, ambulatory settings, physician’s offices, nursing homes and home health settings.

Risks associated with infections from contaminated needle sticks or sharp objects in the medical field is majorly dependent on the pathogens involved, the severity of the injury and the ability to use appropriate treatment for the infection. Health care organizations should initiate needle stick prevention programs aimed at improving their compliance with the current blood borne infection standards. These standards by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) were established in 1991. The standards require organizations to utilize safety-made sharps and needless systems in their medical practitioners.

Needle stick and sharp injuries can be prevented by use of certain methods. The nursing fraternity should ensure elimination of the use of needles when safe and make proper use of effective alternatives to help reduce such infections and injuries. Strategies should also be outlined to make use of devices with safety features. Such devices should be well evaluated to determined the most effective and efficient ones thus considering their acceptability for use. Analysis of needllestick and sharp related injuries should be always carried out in the specific nursing fields to point the current hazards and injuries.

Major priorities and strategies should be set out to improve prevention through close examination and evaluation of both local and national information and data about the possible risk factors for needle stick injuries. This will help formulate successful viable efforts and measures for intervention. Health care workers should be well trained on how to safely use and dispose needles and sharp objects in their work environment. Modifications should be made in the work practices that seem to pose needle stick injuries so as to make them safer.

The nursing fraternity should establish procedures to encourage immediate reporting and timely close follow-up of all needle stick injuries and other sharp-related injuries. Evaluations should be made in concern with the effectiveness of preventions methods and efforts. This will pave a viable way on how monitor feedback on performance of medical workers. In case of any hazards from needles in the work environment, health care workers should make reports. They should also make an active participation in blood borne pathogen trainings to enlighten people on the recommended injury prevention practices.

The management of health care facilities should ensure that they make a thorough review of their exposure control plans each year. This will reflect changes and new trends in the modern technology thus giving an upper hand to reduce exposure to blood borne pathoges.They should also inculcate a behavior of involving the non-managerial personnel in evaluation and safe selection of safety engineered devices for use. The employers of health care workers should maintain a sharp injury log in their record systems. This will ensure the privacy of employees and contain information about the type of brand device involved in the occurrence of the incident, the location of the incident and a description of the incident.

The management should also implement universal precautions and ensure provision of personal protective equipment such as gloves and face shields. Implementation of work practice controls should be ensured such as no needle recapping, disposing of sharps anyhow after use.

Needle stick prevention also requires proper disposal of needles and other sharp devices. Health care workers should ensure that they always place sharps disposal containers where sharps are mostly used. Replacement of sharp disposal containers should be done promptly when full to avoid overfilling. The selected disposable containers should be closable, resistant to punctures and leak proof. Clear labeling of the disposable containers should also be ensured and also use of lockable containers for areas under threat of security issues.

Most needle stick injuries can be prevented with the proper use of safety devices with conjunction with enhanced worker education and training and work practice controls. The nursing team should be proactive in ensuring prevention of needle stick injuries in their working environment. In relation to use of safety devices, permission to use needles should only be granted to the practitioners only at all times. The safety devices should be simple and easy to use to avoid complications. They should be made in a way that they can be effectively used by both right and left handed workers. The safety features in the devices should be activated when in use. The devices a should be safe and effective for patient care.

Personal protection and prevention is also very important in case of a needle stick infection. One should seek immediate medical help to assess the risk of developing a further infection. One should also ensure that he or she gets a hepatitis B vaccination and report to a medical officer in case of any nededlestick and any other injuries.

REFERENCES

Wilburn, S.Q & Eijkemans, G. (2004) Preventing Needle stick injuries among Healthcare Workers: A WHO-ICN Collaboration.Int J Occup Environ Health.

Tatelbaum, M.F. (2001) Health Law Review: Needle stick Safety and Prevention Act. Pain Physician.