6 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 • A P R I L 2 0 1 6
E
ven after you've cleared the first couple of high hurdles
standing between you and your surgeons successfully
using safety sharps — getting your surgeons to agree to
trial them and then to actually use them — there's one
obstacle waiting to trip you up before you reach the fin-
ish line. Your docs must activate the safety feature when they use the
safety sharp. Seems obvious, but the Exposure Prevention Information
Network's (EPINet) "Needlestick and Sharp Object Injury Report"
found that more than 60% of sharps injuries occur when the user didn't
activate the safety feature.
"If activation of the safety feature isn't intuitive, nurses won't acti-
vate it or may suffer injury during activation," says Amber Hogan
Mitchell, DrPH, MPH, CPH, president and executive director of the
Puncture-Resistant ORs
Protect your surgeons and staff from sharps injuries with
safety-engineered devices.
Dan O'Connor | Editor-in-Chief
• NATURAL MOTION If activation of the safety mechanism isn't intuitive, don't expect your surgeons and staff to use the device.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN
