Outpatient Surgery Magazine - Subscribers

Back To Work - June 2020 - Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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7 0 • O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J U N E 2 0 2 0 I t's hard to believe 20 years have passed since the enactment of the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act. The landmark leg- islation requires surgi- cal facilities to identi- fy, evaluate and imple- ment safer sharps devices, maintain a sharps injury log and involve frontline staff in the evaluation and selection of safety-engineered devices. Over those two decades, facilities have invested in sharps safety education, aware- ness and training, as well as the web-based reporting of injuries. They've encouraged the use of safer sharps alternatives such as shielded hypodermic needles, sharps containment devices, neutral zone mats and blunt suture needles. They've implemented changes in protocols such as double gloving and hands-free passing. Yet the sharps injury problem persists. Percutaneous injuries in the surgical environment, particularly those involving curved suture nee- dles, increased by 6.5% in the eight years following the passage of the Act. Data gathered by the Massachusetts Sharps Injury Surveillance System from 2010 to 2015 showed 40% of healthcare sharps injuries Barbara DiTullio, DNP, RN, MA, CNOR, NEA-BC | Boston Be Mindful About Sharps Safety Eliminating sharps injuries demands ensuring staff use proper handling techniques and safety-engineered devices, and a singular focus on the task at hand. CRITICAL CONCENTRATION Eliminating distractions during critical moments of surgery is as important as staff training.

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