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S H A R P S
S A F E T Y
Double-armed vascular sutures have needles at each end, which
increases injury risks for techs. This wasn't an emergent case, so the
surgeons could have used more care when returning the multiple fine
needles and sutures back to the tech. They should have handed the
needles back one at a time or, alternatively, dropped them into a basin
or magnetic suture collection device instead of the tech's hand. (Blunt
suture needles wouldn't have been effective on vessels in this case,
but are perfectly acceptable and recommended for closing muscle
and fascia.)
This scenario highlights the importance of keeping surgeons
informed about sharps safety. Ramon Berguer, MD, FACS, a wellknown surgeon advocate for
sharps safety, says it's unfair for
1 team member to make a
choice that puts other team
members at risk. Educate your
nurses and techs, but also
emphasize to surgeons that
their actions, such as using safe
sharps handling, or inactions,
such as refusing to use safetyengineered devices, put all surgical team members at risk.
Most surgeons are trainable
SPECIAL DELIVERY Organize used instruments,
identify sharps and include case identification in a
tray's documentation before they go to reprocessing.
J A N U A R Y 2013 | O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
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