Safety Of Sharps Essay

In the healthcare field, there are many hazards that each and every worker face every day. Some of the hazards these workers face are biological hazards (blood, viruses, etc.), drug exposures, respiratory hazards (airborne biological hazards, gases, fumes, etc.), and exposure to lasers or x-rays. Due to this wide array of hazards, the medical field is one of the most “dangerous” places to work. In 2010 alone, there were nearly 694,000 reported cases of injuries and illnesses among workers, 150,000 cases more than the manufacturing sector, which is the next most dangerous field of work. And, it isn’t just the medical staff that are at risk. The civilian workers such as the maintenance crews, the janitors, the administration staff, and others also have the same risks. Any injury or illness caused by a medical accident could have a major impact on the misfortunate individual that it happens to, and their family, friends, and the medical facility it happens in (a serious injury could cause major financial loss and a loss of reputation of the medical facility in which it occurred). Safety is also important because when the employees know that they are protected by a set standard, they will stay with their business or medical facility, and they will provide better care for their patients because the workplace will be clear and everything has a certain place that it should

Flames of evolution in patient care have been fanned into a wholesome revolution in the nature of nursing care due to the ever changing healthcare needs and demands of patients. This has led to a paradigm shift from generalized patient care to a patient centered approach. The increase in interaction and individualized patient management has improved healthcare delivery. However, on the flipside, this has not come with new challenges. Healthcare providers are increasingly being exposed to new health hazards as new and sophisticated treatment approaches are developed. Injuries due to sharps are of significance in nursing practice. The International Healthcare Workers Safety Center (2010) reports that an average of 27.97 per 100 licensed beds sharps injuries occurred in 2007 while in 2008 17.2 per 100 licensed beds sharps injuries were recorded. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2010), 385,000 healthcare workers are injured due to sharps annually in the United States. This puts the healthcare personnel at risk of contracting infections such as Hepatitis C and B from contaminated objects. In regard to this concept, this paper will explore sharps safety at the clinical site with a view of using evidence based practice to creating awareness on the need for sharps safety in hospital settings.

Nightingale Community Hospital has been increasing their safety standards in all three general categories, Conduct a pre-procedure verification process, mark the procedure site and a time-out is performed before the procedure over the past year. Nightingale Community Hospital’s value for safety states: “We believe that excellence begins with providing safe environment. We put our patients first as we seek to exceed the expectations of our customers with superior service, outstanding clinical care and unsurpassed responsiveness.” To reach this goal there is always more that can be done. Based on the safety reports several areas need to be looked at:

Over the last several years, a wide variety of health care organizations have been facing a number of challenges. This is because of pressures associated with: rising costs, increasing demands and larger numbers of patients. For many facilities this has created a situation where patient safety issues are often overlooked. This is because the staff is facing tremendous amounts of pressure, long hours and more patients. The combination of these factors has created a situation where a variety of hospitals need to improve their patient safety procedures. In the case of Sharp Memorial Hospital, they are focused on addressing these issues through different strategies. To fully understand how they are able to achieve these objectives requires looking at: specific ways the organization has responded to the crisis in medical errors, their definition of patient safety, the causes of errors, systematic barriers and transformations that have been adopted. Together, these different elements will provide the greatest insights as to how the facility is coping with the crisis in patient safety.

Compared to other members of the community of health care nurses are at a significant risk of needle stick injury because of their frequent performance with vein punctures and taking care of patients suffering from different infectious diseases. Needles may cause injury to you or to someone else if they were not properly discarded after use and can also cause an injury if you do not use gloves to protect your hands while you work with needles. If a medical professional gets stuck by a needle, then they need to wash the area thoroughly with soap and contact their healthcare provider as soon as

Blaire, J., Fottler, M. D., & Savage, G. T. (Eds.). (2008). Advances in Health Care Management, Volume 7: Patient Safety in Health Care Management. Bradford, GBR: Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com

Needle Sharps injuries (NSI) in Australia. What can do about better safety practices to reduce injury to healthcare providers

At least half a million deaths per year could be prevented with effective implementation of systemic improvements in operating rooms. Specifically, multiple studies have found implementing the use of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist would significantly reduce surgical morbidity and mortality due to surgical errors.

The Joint Commission also addresses safety issues through the publication and distribution of the Sentinel Event which identifies a severe breach in safety and addresses ways on how to improve processes and to prevent harm in the future. It also publishes the National Patient Safety Goals which address healthcare safety and ways to solve problems that focus on issues such as identifying patients correctly, improving communication among staff, and administering medications safely, just to name a few. “A majority of Joint Commission standards are directly related to safety, addressing such issues as medication use, infection control, surgery and anesthesia, transfusions, restraint and seclusion, staffing and staff competence, fire safety, medical equipment, emergency management, and security. The standards also include requirements for preventing accidental harm; responding to patient safety events; and the organization’s responsibility to tell patients about the outcomes of their care” (TJC,

A major component of regulated medical waste is sharps, which is the term commonly used for any medical instrument that has a sharp point or a sharp edge and that can cut or puncture skin. Sharps are used in every area of medical practice from the emergency room to the pathology lab. In medical settings, the dangers of sharps are numerous. Not only can needlesticks and cuts from sharps cause immediate problems that require treatment, injury with used sharps can expose a medical professional to bloodborne pathogens and infectious agents like HIV, Hepatitis B and C, herpes, tuberculosis and more.

The term “safety comes first” or more simply put, “safety first,” is a message that patients not only want to hear, but also want to know is the focus of the professionals that are caring for them; in particular, when they are under anesthesia and have limited or no ability to speak up or lookout for themselves. The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has implemented two initiatives; Rocognising and Responding Appropriately to Early Signs of Deterioration in Hospitalised Patients (NPSA, 2007) and How to Guide: Five Steps to Safer Surgery (NPSA, 2010). Understanding that human beings make up the healthcare professional workforce, it is evident that tools and checklist can and will only be as good as the how people utilize and follow

Gloves, goggles, masks and gowns are minimum recommended requirements of PPE in any clinical environment where contact with blood or bodily fluid is likely (HSE 2011). Although wearing gloves does not prevent injury. It minimises exposure and cross contamination, reducing the risk of infection (AFPP 2011). The healthcare professional in the diary decided not to wear gloves because they catch on her rings and tear. This suggests that the rings have jagged edges or stones, which potentially could cause injury to the patient and also pose as an infection risk. Professional guidelines also dictate that staff should be bare below the

The Perioperative Nursing Data Sets (PNDS) are professional guidelines developed and maintained by the Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses. These guidelines outline the expectations for the OR nurse to carry out while a patient is in their care. One item of the PNDS states "the patient is free from signs and symptoms of injury due to extraneous objects" (Rothrock, 2015). Counts including sponges, sharps,

Each year, 385,000 needlestick injuries and other sharps related injuries are sustained by hospital based healthcare professionals; which equates to an average of almost 1,000 sharps injuries per day in the U.S. Accidental needlestick and sharps not only cause injuries, but they also carry a major risk for transmission of blood borne infections. Although virtually all healthcare workers are at risk of harm from occupational exposures such as these, the Center for Disease Control notes that nurses sustain approximately half of all needlestick injuries. While there are several precautions and regulations implemented on the administration and disposal of sharps, many

The core purpose of the national patient safety goals is to indeed promote and improve patient safety. The Joint Commission (2015) lists several of them in its 2015 National Patient Safety Goals. One of the goals the author wants to elaborate more upon is: prevent mistakes in surgery. This paper will include an overview about the aforementioned national patient safety goal. It includes three methods to be followed to be able to achieve the said safety goal. The paper also highlights the importance of the issue to the general public, to the health care institutions, and to the health care professionals. Financial implications of not achieving the goal is also explored in this paper. This national patient safety goal is a multidisciplinary issue. The important roles of other professionals will be discussed as well as nursing leadership.