International Safety Center, which created the sharps injury report.
"Participate in evaluating safety devices, and select devices that are
easy to use and safe. Frontline employee evaluation of devices may
improve activation because employees will use a device they like and
are more familiar with."
The EPINet report holds other surprising findings. One-third (33%)
of sharps injuries occur during use of the device, but they also occur
while disassembling the device (4.8%), while putting the device in the
sharps container (3.7%) and while recapping used needles (5.5%), a
practice the Occupational Safety and Health Administration explicitly
prohibits. Perhaps most surprising of all: In more than two-thirds
(68.5%) of sharps injuries, a safety device was used. "A high incidence
of sharps injuries from safety-engineered devices can mean that safety
features aren't intuitive or that instead of decreasing risk, the design
increases risk," says Dr. Mitchell.
Vangie Dennis, BSN, RN, CNOR, CMLSO, says safety devices can't
interfere with the natural flow of surgery. "When you start trying to
change the culture and the rhythm in surgery with engineering con-
trols, you're gong to fail 100% of the time," says Ms. Dennis, the direc-
tor of patient care practice at the Emory Clinics ASC, a group of 8 sur-
gery centers in the Atlanta, Ga., area. "You can make all the guarded
blades you want, but surgeons are not going to use them if they have
to add an extra step to activate and close them, just as they won't use
neutral zone passing trays if they have to take their eyes off the sterile
field."
When do injuries occur?
Jennifer L. Fencl, DNP, RN, CNS-BC, CNOR, a clinical nurse specialist,
operative services, at Cone Health in Greensboro, N.C., found that
most sharps injuries at her facilities didn't occur during passing, but
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