Significance Risk Of Needle Stick Injury

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.

Maintaining a secure surrounding is a reflection of the organizational culture and an indicator of the level of compassion and vigilance that the organization has for the workers and the welfare of the patients. The management needs to improve safety and assess the causes of error during the handling of patients. As a matter of fact, the stakeholders and the policymakers need to intense their efforts to establish and structure conditions and process that will promote healthy working conditions and improve the patient safety. Health care staff need to be trained in the proper skills of handling patients with terminal and highly infectious diseases. The workers and the management should ensure that the workers are provided with the relevant protective gears while handling a patient. The cases of nonlethal activity injuries are the main reasons for sickness among the staff. Purchase and use of patient transfer and lifting facilities are the key elements of an efficient program to manage the danger of injury to patients and employees related to lifting, moving, locating or movement of patients. It will also show the level of management commitment to implement a secure patient handling program and to supply the health workers with applicable measures to avoid manual handling. The education and coaching of aid staff ought to be in gear towards assessment of hazards within the assistance work setting, choice and use of the acceptable patient lifting instrumentation and devices, and review of research-based practices of safe patient

Drawing out blood can be very dangerous for the patient and for the phlebotomist, these injuries can happen before drawing out blood, right after they pull the needle from the vein, when they’re transferring the blood into a tube and they forget to throw away the needle. “Even with legislation and the advancements in safety designs, needlestick injuries still occur” (Daugherty). Although, since 2,000 there has been many technology and legislation advancements to the needles, there hasn't been a way to prevent the injuries from happening because they are needles and when it touches the skin with enough pressure it will go into the skin. Research shows that “In phlebotomy procedures, 62% of injuries occur within seconds after the device is removed

Nursing and healthcare continue to change on a daily basis. The one thing that has remained constant during these changes is maintaining the safety of our patients. By maintaining their safety, nurses must ensure that they are keeping up-to-date with the changes in technology now being introduced in healthcare, new and emerging diseases, new equipment, and changes in treatment modalities. One such responsibility is ensuring that nurses do not operate equipment they were not oriented to or trained to use in an effort to prevent injury patients. Nurses and other healthcare professionals are being held accountable for practicing within their scope of practice based on their licensure regulations, and the company policies and procedures. Therefore, nurses are responsible for their professional growth and practice by ensuring that they comply with the necessary standards required by their profession.

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

According to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), any worker who handles sharp devices or equipment is at risk, especially those who handle hypodermic needles/syringes, suture needles, butterfly-type needles, blood-collection needles, scalpels and IV stylets. OSHA also estimates that over 5.6 million workers in the healthcare industry and related occupations are at risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens, with nursing staff suffering the most sharps-related injuries and subsequent infections.

Abstract: Attention has been brought to the public knowing about employee health care workers have been exposed to needle stick and sharp object injuries, but there is little knowledge and attention among medical students. Medical students volunteered to take a survey to help determine the frequency of these injuries that occur. There were one-hundred six students out of one-hundred seven students that responded to the survey. Out of those students, thirty-three percent of the students reported that they have had one or more injuries due to sharp objects or being stuck by a needle. There were

What are standard precautions? How do they impact the nursing profession? These are all valid questions that need further investigation. Set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), standard precautions are a set of practices that help guide nurses to prevent and control infectious diseases from spreading (Efstathiou, Papastavrou, Raftopoulos, & Merkouris, 2011, p. 1). There is no question that nurses are at a particularly higher risk of occupational exposure. Koutoukidis, Stainton, and Hughson (2016) explain that regardless of the patient’s diagnosis, presumed infectious status, and the setting in which the patient is in, nurses should always implement standard precautions (p. 483). The high stake profession leaves nurses

You brought up a good question about how IV drug users currently obtain needles. One possibility is by theft. Needles are often reused and needle exchange programs will have a positive impact on reducing the spread of disease by sharing needles. I found a website that instructs users in methods to clean needles, http://www.friendtofriend.org/drugs/needles.html before reusing them. The Friend to Friend webpage does suggest that users give up their addiction, but provide methods for cleaning needles as an option for those individuals who do not have access to clean ‘works’.

Even though I did not see or hear the nurse bring up an issue about the patient’s safety before, during or after the procedure, I am sure she was actively monitoring the patient and the surrounding situation for harm. As a future nurse, I have been made aware of the need to identify and correct unsafe practices or procedures in order to improve the patient’s experience and prevent unnecessary harm.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that about 385,000 needle stick injury and sharps injury occur annually among healthcare workers in hospitals (CDC, 2011). Needle stick and sharps injuries are associated with the transmission of many different pathogens, particularly blood borne pathogens such as hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus, and the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV. An estimation of half of these injuries go underreported and majority of these needle stick injury and sharps injury occur in the Operating Rooms. The logical estimated amount of injuries is still an on going problem that needs further evaluation of control and prevention (Cicconi, Claypool, & Stevens, 2010).

This article appeared in the Patient Safety section of Nursing a monthly publication for nurses offering current and practical content to its readers.

The Australian College of Operating Room Nurses (2014) also recommend the wearing of personal protection equipment, proper disposal of sharps and the inclusion of a sharps injury prevention education program as part of the operating suite professional development. Although guidelines for the safe handling of sharps have been developed by professional bodies, national governance bodies and facilities there continues to be high numbers of sharps injuries (Jagger et al.,

The physical demands require that a person be physically capable of standing for long periods of time. Nurses often assist in lifting and moving patients and can work up to 12 hour days. They must also have technical abilities because of some of the computerized equipment. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the primary hazard in patient care is blood borne pathogens, such as hepatitis B and HIV. Nurses are exposed to a variety of infectious diseases so they must be very careful and follow the safety guidelines. A typical day includes accessing patient needs, creating treatment plans and evaluating their progress. They must also educate the patient and the families involved.