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EMPLOYEE SAFETY
Answer: c. It's easy to fall into the complacent
trap of drafting a plan, educating your staff
and trialing a crop of safety-engineered
devices one time, then losing sight of the safety requirements and issues and never giving
them another moment's thought. Especially if
your surgeons have been vocal in their opposition to safety scalpels. I'll grant them that:
The earliest products didn't have the same
weight in their hands as the traditional
scalpels they depended on. It was more than a
decade before a company delivered one that
satisfied our surgeons. (As for blunt suture
needles, I'm estimating another 3 to 5 years
before there's something that really works for
the mainstream.) But the safety environment
is changing, as you'll note when you routinely
revisit it.
3. True or false? The exposure control plan must
include input from non-managerial staff members.
Answer: true. Patient care responsibilities
carry a potential risk of sharps injuries and
exposure to blood and body fluids, so you
should consult staff representatives on these
risk management details and decisions.
There's a strong argument for putting staff
members in charge of developing your exposure control plan. Think about it: EmployeeD E C E M B E R 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
The Only
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• to use your favorite scalpel handle
• a sheath that fully retracts for a clear
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way you load a blade
Check out our other
Safety Scalpel Systems
with the added benefit of
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SPSS
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Disposable
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www.southmedic.com
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