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Related sites National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health |
Government issues strict recommendations on needle safety
Posted
12-6-99 Atlanta. In an effort to reduce the number of healthcare workers injured by needlesticks, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) issued an alert detailing actions employers and health workers should take to improve safety. The Nov. 23 report noted that 600,000 to 800,000 workers are injured by needlesticks each year. "This is an important problem, and we wanted to look at the issues and come out with clear recommendations," said Thomas Hodous, MD, associate director for science in the division of safety research at NIOSH, part of the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The alert includes recommendations for evaluating and using safety devices, analyzing workplace injuries, developing prevention programs, training healthcare workers, and reporting and following up on injuries. Representatives from a wide range of healthcare groups, including nursing organizations, helped develop the recommendations. "We are very pleased that NIOSH has issued these recommendations and think they will prove useful to hospitals that are working to improve healthcare worker safety recommendations," said Michelle Nawar, communications and education specialist for the American Nurses Association. The ANA does have reservations. "We would like to see a strengthening of the suggestion that frontline workers be involved in the development of hospital policies and programs," Nawar added. "Frontline input is critical to the process." The CDC puts the risk of infection from a needlestick at 0.3 percent for HIV, 6 percent to 30 percent for hepatitis B in the nonimmune person, and 1.8 percent for the hepatitis C virus. Safety devices have been shown to reduce injuries by up to 88 percent. According to ANA information, only 15 percent of hospitals currently use such devices. Representatives of the American Hospital Association, which is working on its own programs to help hospitals avoid needle accidents, were not available for comment.
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