for hands-free passing
of instruments whenev-
er possible. Whether it's
a brightly colored tray
or a towel, have some sort of barrier for the transfer from the surgeon
to the scrub nurse, tech or whomever is accepting the sharp. Make
sure all parties are communicating about the transfer, and that the
recipient of the sharp can pick it up in a safe manner without having
to move it to avoid its sharp end. We've instructed our nurses to hold
the tray out even if a doctor tries to insist on manually passing a sharp
to them.
• Designate a place for sharps post-use. Have a tray in which to
place sharps after use. Make sure the container is big enough so that
nothing is protruding from it as you make your way to the disposal
box or the reprocessing cart.
• Explain how to activate the safety features. Data from the
American Nurses Association (ANA) shows that nearly two-thirds of
nurses have had a sharps injury at some point in their career. The ANA
also says safety syringes can reduce needlestick injuries to medical
personnel by 80%, and that figure can climb to 90% with worker educa-
tion efforts. But people need to know how to activate and deactivate
the safety features — and actually use them — for these reductions to
occur. A recent report by the International Safety Center on 2018 data
from the Exposure Prevention Information Network (EPINet) shows
that 44% of sharps injuries took place in surgical settings where safety
sharps were often used but the safety features had not been activated.
• Make sharps safety education a part of employee orientation.
Even though the sessions include non-medical staff, the 2018 EPINet
data shows that 25% of those injured by sharps weren't the people who
first used them. That means employees downstream from the proce-
6 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9
We've instructed our nurses to hold the
tray out even if a doctor tries to insist
on manually passing a sharp to them.
