push of a button.
Ms. Thompson is undeterred. She plans to use the feedback her sur-
geons gave to trial more sharps safety products. "I'd love to be safety-
all-the-way, but I also value our doctors' opinions, and I'm not going to
force them to use a product they're not comfortable with," she says.
"You want ease of use. You don't want to take extra steps to do some-
thing."
Keep in mind that OSHA wants to see evidence that you routinely
trial safety-engineered devices: "If an effective and clinically appro-
priate safety-engineered sharp exists, an employer must evaluate
and implement it," unless such a product fails to meet standards
for patient safety and medical integrity, says OSHA. And your
frontline staff must have a say in the selection. You must "solicit
input from non-managerial employees responsible for direct
patient care who are potentially exposed to injuries from contami-
nated sharps and document the solicitation in the exposure control
plan."
OSM
6 6 • 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
We stressed to our docs that the
literature reflects 70% of blade injuries
are preventable with a safety device.
— Jennifer L. Fencl, DNP, RN, CNS-BC, CNOR
