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S H A R P S
S A F E T Y
for products and technologies that will work in our surgical environment.
Maintaining momentum
The methodology we used to address sharps safety works for any organization. First, you need an unambiguous charter that makes the team goals crystal clear. Then identify the current situation by, for example, developing and implementing a survey, so you have input from the front line. Find a champion, someone in the organization who sees the importance of what you're doing, and work with that person first.
For example, a nurse who's had 4 sharps injuries during his career here saw the personal impact injuries can have. Now he's very involved in our sharps safety effort, because he doesn't want to see any of his colleagues injured.
Safety tends to be a top-down concern. People in charge respond to accidents and incidents by sending some sort of edict out. We're driving safety from the bottom up. The best way to really make big strides is to have the effort driven by the people who do the work, and who know best what the hazards are and what the solutions might be.
Ms. DiTullio (bditulli@bidmc.harvard.edu) is nurse manager of the operating rooms and Mr.
Simon (rwsimon@bidmc.harvard.edu) is senior management engineer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Mass.
