Don’t risk violation of needlestick regs
Vital Signs
Site: Exposure Prevention Information Network
Address: www.med.virginia.edu/epinet
Contact: Jane Perry, Director of Communications, International Healthcare Worker Safety Center, P.O. Box 800764, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, VA 22908-0764. Telephone: (434) 982-3763. Fax: (434) 982-0821. E-mail: [email protected].
Protecting yourself from a needlestick injury, evaluating safety devices, and complying with state and federal regulations. You’ll find resources to help you achieve these three important goals at the Exposure Prevention Information Network (EPINet) web site, from the University of Virginia’s International Healthcare Worker Safety Center, based in Charlottesville.
Find these resources at site
The site includes the following resources:
• An updated list of safety devices organized by product type. The list of safety devices is updated regularly as new products come on the market, says Jane Perry, director of communications. The list also includes links to manufacturers’ web sites if available. "We do not rate devices, and we do not conduct device evaluations," notes Perry.
• A sharps injury prevention checklist. The "Checklist for Sharps Injury Prevention" is an easy-to-use tool for implementing safety devices. "We focus on the procedures that have the highest risk for bloodborne pathogen exposure, such as blood-drawing, [intravenous] insertion, and injections," she says.
• Information on state and federal legislation. Perry stresses that implementation of safety devices is required by federal and state Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) programs. "So is collection of sharps injury data," she adds. (For more information on this topic, see "New regs require safer needle devices — Is your ED out of compliance?" ED Nursing, February 2000, p. 41.)
The site provides resources to support the conversion to safety devices and offers a free download of the EPINet surveillance program for tracking sharps injuries and blood and body fluid exposures, says Perry. (Click on "About EPINet.") The site highlights the specific interventions that are needed to comply with OSHA’s Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, which was revised in 2001, she adds. "We also review some of the nondevice-related requirements of the revised standard, such as maintaining a sharps injury log and including frontline health care workers in the process of evaluating safety devices," she says.
Protecting yourself from a needlestick injury, evaluating safety devices, and complying with state and federal regulations. Youll find resources to help you achieve these three important goals at the Exposure Prevention Information Network web site.
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