Needlestick safety and organ donor awareness

By Carol Lindsay, RN
September 2, 2003

The U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety & Health Administration provides information on OSHA's standards on needlesticks and prevention, guidelines for choosing safer needle devices, possible solutions for workplace hazards and postexposure guidelines.

Sponsored by the American Nurses Association, "Safe Needles Save Lives" features a needlestick fact sheet. Brochures to educate nurses about safe needles and bloodborne pathogens also can be ordered. The site provides sample letters so that nurses can contact their legislators and express their concern about needle and bloodborne pathogen safety.

Burn prevention

The American Burn Association is committed to the study and research of acute care, rehabilitation and prevention of burns. Burn care providers can update their knowledge through educational opportunities on the site.

Extensive burn prevention materials are offered, including posters, burn awareness campaign kits and PowerPoint presentations. For hospital staff, an information sheet covers burn unit referral criteria.

Burnsurgery.org is dedicated to educating health care professionals about burns. This site contains burn modules on topics including burn prevention, initial management of the burn patient, the burn wound, and metabolism and nutrition.

Donate life

Organdonor.gov, created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Health Resources and Services Administration, provides information about how and why to fill out a donor card, and an organ/tissue donor card and donor information brochure can be downloaded.

The site provides donor and recipient stories, critical data and a glossary of terms. Links connect visitors to numerous related sites, including the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations and groups dedicated to organ-specific transplantation.

Transplant nurses

The International Transplant Nurses Society is a worldwide professional organization representing all areas of transplantation. The Web site provides a network for nurses to communicate, continuing education and a mentoring program for transplant nurses. Patient education booklets on kidney/pancreas transplant and heart transplant can be downloaded.

For those interested in reading the stories of people who have received donated organs and donor families, visit TransWeb.org.

Wound management

Nurses involved in extensive wound care may find themselves caring for patients who are receiving hyperbaric treatments. For information about hyperbaric nursing, particularly the gas laws and physiology of gas laws related to hyperbaric treatment, dive tables and the theory of compression, visit the Hyperbaric Medicine Unit, based in Scotland. This site also provides a virtual tour of a hyperbaric chamber.

An additional resource for wound care is the Journal of Wound Care. The Academy of Wound Management offers information about a multidisciplinary wound care certification.