The battle against sharps injuries has seen some successes—for example, sharps-related injuries in nonsurgical hospital settings have decreased since 2001. However, injuries in surgical settings have increased, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as many as half of all sharps injuries to healthcare personnel may go unreported.

The CDC has launched a new campaign, "Stop Sticks," to raise awareness of the risks of bloodborne disease exposures associated with sharps injuries among healthcare personnel and reduce the incidence of needlesticks and other sharps injuries.

Background on Sharps Safety

Who needs to be trained? Under the Cal/OSHA bloodborne pathogens standard, all workers who may be exposed to blood or other potentially infectious materials such as bodily fluids at work must be trained in sharps safety. The CDC's Stop Sticks campaign materials were developed mainly for operating room and emergency department audiences, but the campaign is also designed to include clinical and nonclinical healthcare workers and healthcare administrators in hospitals, doctors' offices, nursing homes, and home healthcare agencies.

Why train workers in sharps safety? Healthcare workers need to be reminded that sharps injuries carry potentially deadly risks and that these injuries are often preventable with the use of proper equipment and techniques.

Practice Tip

The "Stop Sticks" campaign materials include many tools for incorporating facility-specific information and photographs into your awareness campaign. You can find them here.

Basics of Sharps Safety

Instructions to Trainer: This training session is designed around the CDC's Stop Sticks campaign, not around the requirements of the bloodborne pathogens standard. As such, it may be used as a reminder course, but if you present it as bloodborne pathogens training for compliance purposes, you may need to add materials.

Sharp objects and sick people can be a deadly combination for caregivers. According to the World Health Organization, the world's 35 million healthcare workers suffer 3 million sharps injuries—penetrating stab wounds from a needle, scalpel, or other sharp object that may result in exposure to blood or other bodily fluids--every year. Healthcare workers can also be exposed to bloodborne pathogens through mucous membrane contact or contact between nonintact skin and blood, tissue, or other potentially infectious bodily fluids (for example, when blood or bodily fluids are sprayed or splashed onto the worker). Together, these exposures result in more than 85,000 new cases each year of healthcare workers becoming infected with hepatitis and HIV.

To reduce your risk, be especially careful in the following circumstances:

When you work in a dangerous job. Some healthcare workers are at higher risk of sharps injuries than others. Who's at risk? According to the CDC:

• Nurses suffer 43 percent of sharps injuries.


• Doctors suffer 28 percent of sharps injuries.


• Technicians suffer 15 percent of sharps injuries.


• Students, housekeeping personnel, dental workers, and clerical/administrative workers inhealthcare settings all have measurable risk of sharps injuries.

When you work in a dangerous location. Sharps injuries are most common in:

• patient rooms (39 percent of sharps injuries)


• operating rooms (27 percent)


• outpatient settings (8 percent)


• emergency rooms ( 8 percent)


• laboratories (5 percent)

When you face a dangerous situation. Sharps injuries occur:

• During use. Forty-one percent of injuries occur when needles are being inserted into or removed from the patient and the patient moves unexpectedly.


• After use and before disposal. Forty percent of injuries happen during the trip from the healthcare worker's hand to the sharps disposal container. If workers transfer contaminated sharps or bump into one another at this point, accidental sticks can occur.


• During and after disposal. Fifteen percent of injuries occur while the worker is placing the sharp in the disposal container or dealing with sharps that have already been disposed of (for example, removing and replacing a full sharps container).

When you're using a dangerous device. Some sharps pose an increased risk of exposure. For example, hollow-bore needles have been shown to carry a larger amount of infectious material. A needlestick by a hollow-bore needle, such as a phlebotomy needle, is more likely to transmit disease than a stick by a solid needle, such as a suture needle. The most dangerous sharps are:

• Disposable syringes. Thirty-one percent of all sharps injuries are inflicted by disposable syringes. If you use these devices, be aware that you are at the highest risk of injury.


• Suture needles. Twenty-four percent of all sharps injuries are inflicted by suture needles.


• Winged steel needles. Coming in a distant third place are winged steel needles, which cause 5 percent of all sharps injuries.

Conclusion

Healthcare workers need to protect themselves against exposure to bloodborne pathogens via needlesticks and other sharps injuries. Knowing your risk of injury in various settings and situations will help you remember to be careful and pay attention to what you're doing.