Archive for: Needlesticks & Sharps Injuries
Award to note safety work on needlestick prevention
It’s time to acknowledge the needlestick prevention hero in your organization or profession. The Sharps Injury Prevention Award is given each year to people who are making a difference in preventing needlestick injuries and bloodborne pathogen exposures.
The International Sharps Injury Prevention Society (ISIPS), which sponsors the award, is accepting nominations at until September 30. ISIPS will announce the winners December 1.
Kennedy, a healthcare reform and safety champion
With the passing of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the American Nurses Association (ANA) issued a statement expressing their profound sadness at the loss of a true champion for healthcare reform.
The statement also called attention to Kennedy’s support for healthcare safety issues and in particular the Needlestick Prevention Act:
What was most remarkable about Senator Kennedy was that he always remembered people far removed from the world of power and influence. As an advocate of the Federal Needlestick Prevention Act, he took the time to personally phone a nurse who had contracted HIV through a needle stick injury, to let her know that the bill that would help protect nurses had passed and was on its way to be signed into law. This act of kindness and generosity of spirit was not an unusual occurrence.
The Senator’s “tireless work on what he called ‘the fight of his life,’ health care,” is where he leaves his greatest legacy, says the ANA.
Notes from the field: “Why are you standing on the ledge under the sink cabinet?”
As I was walking past an exam room last week during an inspection, I couldn’t believe what I seeing.
One of the medical assistants (MA) was too short to reach the wall mounted sharps container, so she opened the under the sink cabinet door, stood on the ledge, reached up over her head, and put the used safety device in the sharps container.
When healthcare workers fear for their own health
A thoughtful “Doctor and Patient” article by Pauline W. Chen, MD, in The New York Times, May 21, raises an issue that I think is never too far removed from the minds of healthcare professionals.
“I believe it’s a privilege, a calling, to take care of patients. And I believe that in deciding to practice medicine, I have consented to an unspoken contract with the public, one that requires that I take care of those who are sick. Lately, however, I have also begun to think that there is another side to that contract. Maybe there are obligations that the general public has to its health care workers,” writes Dr. Chen.
Think outside the box when disposing of broken slides
For those of you concerned about how to dispose of contaminated microscope slides, here’s some guidance on what not to do.
A Phoenix veterinary laboratory faces civil penalties totaling $80,000 for routinely disposing of glass microscope slides and cover slips that contained animal tissue specimens into a dumpster, according to NAZ Today.
Arizona law states that slides and cover slips are classified as biohazardous medical sharps, and must be stored in a container that is “rigid, puncture-resistant, leakproof, and fitted with a locking cap.” The container must also be labeled with a biohazardous medical symbol and disposed of at a biohazardous medical waste facility.
Notes From the field: Why can’t I re-use the vacutainer tube holder?
During my OSHA inspections last week, I witnessed several phlebotomists removing contaminated needles from vacutainer tube holders. The OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standard [29 CFR 1910.1030(d)(2)(vii)(A)] addresses the “prohibition against the removal of contaminated needles from blood tube holders following a blood drawing procedure.”
Top-ten list of OSHA interpretation letters
Another David whose last name also begins with an “L” has made a pretty good living with top-ten lists. So I’m giving you my top-ten list of OSHA interpretation letters to help resolve disputes about compliance with the bloodborne pathogens standard.
I find interpretation letters helpful in answering OSHA questions because they usually get at specific situations, whereas the standard is written too broadly to answer those “show-me-where-OSHA-says” challenges.
Healthcare workers safety association says: Protect our blood, backs and lungs
A year ago this month, the Association of Occupational Health Professionals in Healthcare (AOHP) surveyed its members about what issues concerned them most, and bloodborne infections from needlesticks and sharps, injuries for handing and lifting patients, and protection from airborne diseases made the top three list.
Safety needle use is the law; not a preference
It’s been nine years since provisions the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act have been incorporated into OSHA’s bloodborne pathogens standard, and some healthacre providers still think that the mandatory use of safety devices doesn’t apply to their setting.
Listen to OSHA Q&A Roundtable panelist Jane Perry, associate director, International Healthcare Worker Safety Center, as she sets the record straight on when you must adopt safety devices, when you don’t, and who is not doing it. Please click on the audio clip below.
Learn how you can get all your OSHA questions answered by registering for OSHA Healthcare Advisor’s “Q&A Roundtable: Solutions to Your Compliance Challenges” audioconference, Tuesday, May 19, 2009, 1-2 p.m. (Eastern).
FDA warns against sharing insulin pens
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a press release last week reminding healthcare professionals that they should use insulin pens only on one patient and then dispose of the device. The FDA is aware of incidents at two undisclosed hospitals, where healthcare workers used pens to administer insulin on multiple patients, putting more than 2,000 people at risk for hepatitis and HIV.
