Needlestick injuries can lead to infection transmission. With healthcare workers dealing with hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV-infected blood, those punctures can lead to alarming results. Improving sharps safety in your medical facility is a must. It’s a good thing many injuries are preventable. Here’s how to ensure your healthcare personnel aren’t exposed to dangerous or fatal infections.
Eliminate Unnecessary Use
Which procedures don’t require needles? You’ll want to look into those procedures and allow needles only when your staff needs them. That’s one way to prevent unnecessary use of sharps at work, which helps lower needlestick injuries.
Use Sharps Correctly
Always train your team to use medical supplies and equipment properly. Some may resort to shortcuts, but that can potentially lead to injuries, as improper use of the sharps can cause them to break prematurely. Emphasizing proper use of sharps will improve your team’s needlestick safety levels.
Look for Supplies with Safety Features
Investing in supplies with safety features is another way to improve needlestick safety levels. With retractable needles and other features, your team can use these supplies without fearing punctures to their gloves or protective gear.
Proper Disposal of Needles
Your team should always dispose of the needles in the sharps container. They should always empty the container before it becomes full so they won’t run into problems during a long surgery.
Encourage Vaccines
Another way to prevent infection is to ensure your team gets hepatitis B vaccination. That also lowers the risk of them contracting the disease, especially in cases of accidental injuries and punctures.
Send Your Staff to Training
Allow your team to participate in training about infection prevention. Knowing the steps to follow in identifying, determining, and isolating an infection will help, as they’ll know what to do in case it happens in the OR.
Report All Needlestick Injuries
Use those reports to warn the team about similar situations and risks in the future. That will help them cultivate a more careful approach in the OR. For more details, please visit Sharp Fluidics now.
