Resources and tools
- Setting up or revising a program – more tools
- Evaluating and selecting devices
- Education and training resources
Compliance assistance tools for OSHA regulations may be found on the OSHA Program page, while other Fresources are available from Key agencies.
The following links to other resources and tools may also be useful in setting up needlestick prevention programs, revising established programs, and finding new data. Note: Information found on the Internet does not reflect the opinions or business relationships of Premier.
Setting up or revising a program – more tools
- Safer Work Practices to Prevent Sharps Injury These safer work practices for Laboratory, Nursing, and Peri-Operative Settings, were reprinted and adapted with permission from the California Healthcare Association
- Premier’s educational brochure on needlestick prevention is useful in a wide variety of healthcare settings.
Evaluating and selecting devices
OSHA Program strategies include many resources and tools for evaluating and selecting safer devices, and suggested additional resources include the following:
- Blunt suture needles: CDC-NIOSH-SHIB bulletin. This joint bulletin provides the rationale for use of blunt suture needles in surgical settings.
- How to Make an Inventory List of Sharps Devices for Your Facility: Why you need one and what it might look like. Most hospitals and healthcare providers have no single list or inventory of sharps devices that are purchased and used in their facility. However a sharps device inventory can be a powerful tool to complement your existing sharps injury prevention plan.
- How (and Why) to Make a Display Board of Sharps Devices. An effective tool for a hospital is a display board of the sharps devices used in the facility or in a single department. In its simplest form, this can be a poster or series of posters containing a sample of each device and its packaging.
- Premier Sharps Injury Prevention Devices. This list is continuously updated and remains current.
Education and training resources
Books and reports
Advanced Precautions for Today’s OR. The Operating Room Professional Handbook for the Prevention of Sharps Injuries and Bloodborne Exposures. Mark S. Davis, Sweinbinder Publications, soft cover 158 pages, Atlanta GA, ISBN: 0-966487354, 1999. $14.95
This book provides techniques and technology for exposure prevention, including precautions for the surgical team, administrative support, checklists, CDC recommendations, and OSHA requirements. Ordering information: 404.556.3359 or www.orprecautions.com/resources.html
Health Devices; Reports from ECRI, an independent, nonprofit institution ECRI, 5200 Butler Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462. ECRI publishes reports, product reviews, and evaluations of needlestick injury prevention devices and sharps disposal containers in its subscription journal. Ordering information: 610.825.6000, ext. 888, and ECRI - http://www.ecri.org
State and professional organizations resources
American Nurses Association - Needlestick injury update
"Safe Needle Save Lives" Website is devoted to sharing needlestick injury prevention information, including legislation and current articles.
http://www.needlestick.org
International Healthcare Worker Safety Center - 2010 Conference resources
The “Tenth anniversary of the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act: Mapping progress, charting a future path” website provides the materials from a conference organized by the
International Healthcare Worker Safety Center, University of Virginia in November 2010 in Charlottesville, Virginia. World renowned speakers address the issue of needlestick prevention and share their data analyses.
A video of the speakers and copies of their slide presentations are available.
International Sharps Injury Prevention Society
ISIPS is an international group of medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers, health organizations, healthcare professionals, medical waste disposal experts that have joined forces to provide education, information, and product knowledge to help reduce the number of sharps injuries that occur each year. Visit their home page at the following URL.
http://www.isips.org
Massachusetts Sharps Injuries Data - 2009
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH)
has released their most recent data report, “Sharps Injuries among Hospital
Workers in Massachusetts, 2009.” This information can be used for
comparative purposes during program development and assessment.
The Massachusetts Sharps Injury Surveillance System has also made available a summary of their program and data from 2002-2008:
This information is also available on the Occupational Health Surveillance Program website: (www.mass.gov/dph/ohsp) under Needlesticks and other Sharps Injuries, Data and Statistics
Occupational Health Surveillance and Evaluation Program (OHSEP)
OHSEP is a program in the California Department of Public Health that tracks work-related injuries and diseases, conducts workplace studies about occupational exposures and health effects, and makes prevention recommendations to employers and employees.
See: http://www.dhs.ca.gov/ohb/sharps/
San Francisco General Hospital's Trauma Foundation, Training for Development of Innovative Control Technology (TDICT) Project.
The TDICT Project is a collaborative effort of frontline healthcare workers, product designers, and industrial hygienists dedicated to the preventing exposure to blood through better design and evaluation of medical devices and equipment. TDICT is based at San Francisco General Hospital. Sites of investigation have included the emergency department, intensive care unit, and general medical wards, as well as a fire department and emergency responders. Other work focused on operating rooms, dental operatories, and various home healthcare agencies. Site materials include product evaluation tools, scenarios for simulated testing, and user-based performance standards. More information:
http://www.tdict.org
Bibliography on sharps safety
- International Healthcare Worker Safety Center
International bibliography of 2500 articles on needlesticks, sharps safety, and occupational exposures to bloodborne pathogens (1903 to present). - Premier Safety Institute
Articles pertain to the review, selection, testing, or evaluation of safer needle devices (1987 to 2005)
Other resources
OR Precautions
A safety website focused on surgery, "OR Precautions" is available, providing safety and compliance resources such as federal and OSHA compliance for the OR, safety handbooks, videos and posters, consulting, speaking, on-site training seminars, and administrative and risk management strategies. Examples:
- Stuck in Surgery; Sharps Safety in Today’s OR. A 17 minute safety video for OSHA compliance in the OR and hospital-wide sharps safety education. Useful for all staff in the OR, Labor & Delivery, Emergency Department, and Trauma Center. Produced by Mark S. Davis, MD; 2001. $29.95.
- Safety Posters for the OR (set of 10 different topics) Informational and motivational daily reminders for posting in OR and Labor & Delivery. Printed on 8&1/2 X 11 inch heavy stock in assorted colors. Topics include no-hands passing of sharps, blunt suture needles, bloodborne pathogens, costs of exposures, laparoscopic/endoscopic checklist, smoke management, barrier selection, anesthesia precautions, labor and delivery checklist;. $30.00.
OSHA program
More resources - see
OSHA
implementation strategies