October 16, 2002—A new, Web-based resource shares information on ways in which some healthcare facilities have established programs for protecting employees from the risk of job-related needlesticks. The Web site, from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), is “Safer Medical Device Implementation in Health Care Facilities: Lessons Learned.”
The site describes five essential steps for developing, establishing, and maintaining a needlestick-prevention program, and offers first-hand experiences from hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, and dental facilities as to how they put those steps into effect. The facilities discuss barriers they encountered in establishing the programs, how those barriers were overcome, and lessons learned from their experiences.
The five strategic steps for needlestick prevention programs under the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act of 2000 and the subsequent revision of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s bloodborne pathogens standard, are: 1) forming a sharps injury prevention team, 2) identifying priorities, 3) identifying and screening safer medical devices, 4) evaluating safer medical devices, and 5) instituting and monitoring the use of safer devices. For each step, the NIOSH Web page includes links to the accounts by healthcare facilities as to how they put that step into effect.
Further information on preventing needlesticks, including the NIOSH Alert, “Preventing Needlestick Injuries in Health Care Settings,” is available from NIOSH. For other information on NIOSH research and recommendations for preventing work-related injuries and illnesses, call toll-free 800/35-NIOSH.
