tude. We accept that it
happened, I ask if they're
OK and if they have any
concerns, and if there's
anything they need from
me to help to prevent it
from happening again.
4. Crucial conver-
sations.
When you
have these conversations
with compassion, it opens
up a lot of things. I'm then
able to walk through the
process with them. I can
calm them down, explain
that while a sharps injury
is reportable to OSHA and
that our accreditation
hinges in part on how
many incidents we have, it's OK. If they're concerned about a poten-
tial infection, I explain how the size of the bore of the needle, the
amount of blood on the syringe and the length of the time the needle
was in the skin are all factors in infection transmissions. It was during
these conversations that I realized a lot of younger nurses were never
taught how to activate the safety features on sharps in nursing school.
5. Just-in-time training.
When I realized that these young
nurses needed education, I didn't wait for a meeting or a huddle. When
one nurse who had more than one stick told me she didn't know how
7 2 • 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
• A CUT ABOVE Surgeons have strong opinions about safety scalpels on
both sides of the issue. Some models have safety sheaths while others are
retractable.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
