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Personal Battle - March 2021 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine

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practice in surgical settings," says Ms. Nolan, not- ing that the practice is endorsed by the CDC, the World Health Organization, the American College of Surgeons, AORN, OSHA, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and the International Safety Center. Ms. Nolan says the staff was told the volume of blood on a suture needle is reduced by as much as 95% when it passes through two glove layers, there- by reducing viral load in the event of a contaminat- ed percutaneous injury. The risk of exposure to a patient's blood is reduced by 87% when the outer glove is punctured if an indicator underglove is used. The reason: Colored undergloves make tiny perforations to outer gloves easier to notice, often at the time of the incident, so staff can quickly don a fully intact pair. "Some staff members thought using a single, 3 6 • 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 • M A R C H 2 0 2 1 Current sharps safety practices in surgical settings provide reason for hope and cause for concern, accord- ing to Amber H. Mitchell, DrPH, MPH, CPH, president and executive director of the International Safety Center (ISC). The ISC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the safety of healthcare workers, issues annual reports about needle- sticks and other sharps injuries based on data from the Exposure Prevention Information Network (EPINet) surveillance system. Its most recent report, which includes 2019 data, shows slight improvements in sharps safety practices from the year before. The percentage of healthcare workers who were wearing double gloves when they suffered a needlestick rose by 3.3%, from 32.1% in 2018 to 35.4% in 2019. Other highlights include a 2.6% reduction in sharps injuries that occurred in operating and recovery rooms, from 44.3% to 41.7%. The sharps injuries that took place in procedure rooms also declined by 0.7 %, from 6.2% to 5.5 %. Progress is better than regression, but Dr. Mitchell sees plenty of room for improvement. She believes the overall level of noncompliance to sharps safety practices is "horrifying and avoidable." She also notes that the evidence on the effectiveness of double-gloving has been overwhelming for a long time, and increasing compliance with this practice would decrease the overall number of sharps injuries. Dr. Mitchell is hopeful that the soon-to-be- analyzed sharps safety data collected during 2020 will be better across the board, especially because last year marked the 20th anniversary of the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act — legislation that requires facilities to identify, evaluate and implement safer medical devices. "We're really hoping for starkly different results," says Dr. Mitchell. "We anticipate that better safety practices due to the pandemic might have contributed to a banner year for sharps safety improvements." —Adam Taylor SHARPS SURVEILLANCE National Injury Report Reveals Mixed Results DOUBLING DOWN The number of healthcare workers who opt to double-glove appears to be in the rise.

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