Come one, come all to learn about safer sharps
Hospital creates carnival to attract attention
With a clown, a juggler, and sharps safety booths, St. Luke’s Hospital in San Francisco may have found the most novel way to introduce new devices to health care workers: a sharps safety carnival.
After months of evaluating and selecting new devices through teams, St. Luke’s faced the daunting task of teaching staff how to use the devices.
The carnival was designed as an introduction to six new devices and a way to entice health care workers to attend demonstrations. Representatives from manufacturers set up booths for each new device, and one booth focused on safe sharps practices. (Reps also had been working with staff on each unit in more traditional training.)
The event, held in the hospital’s cafeteria, boasted a carnival atmosphere, with popcorn, pretzels, ice cream, balloons, and other carnival treats. "We had a professional clown, a magician, a juggler, and a mime, who circulated through the place," recalls Roz Potter, RN, CIC, infection control coordinator at St. Luke’s, who organized the carnival. She now holds that post at Veterans Administration Hospital-San Francisco.
"Each person got a card when they came in," she says. "They had to get the card stamped by at least two booths to show they had the devices demonstrated before they got food. That’s how we made sure people were trained on the devices and not just running in, getting food, and running out."
Paychecks distributed at carnival
The carnival was scheduled on payday, and the paychecks were distributed at the rear of the room. That encouraged many health care workers who weren’t on duty during the two and a half hours to participate.
The carnival was just a part of the hospital’s overall plan to transition to safer sharps devices.
"We introduced one new device at a time," says Potter. "We did the education for it. Then we wiped all the old stock out over a weekend, put the new stock in, and had resource people available to teach those who didn’t get in on any of the training."
Potter, who has a background in advertising and special events coordination, also tried to capture the attention of staff with bright posters. One read: "What’s the larger crime? Not providing sharps with safety devices, or not using the safety device provided? Assembly Bill 1208 . . . It’s the law!"
Another poster used red ink in a syringe to mark the level of blood and body fluid exposures for that quarter. One noted, "three out of seven sharps injuries occurred because the original user did not dispose of the sharp immediately. Don’t become a statistic. Dispose of sharps immediately after use."
Yet despite the attention-getting efforts, St. Luke’s had a problem encountered by other hospitals that implemented safer devices in the wake of the California sharps injury prevention law. In the months after new devices came into use, needlestick injuries actually rose. Staff who monitored sharps containers observed that the devices often weren’t activated.
Maryann Cutone, RN-C, MEd, director of education at St. Luke’s, says the hospital has since conducted an extensive, unit-by-unit training program. While the carnival demonstrations provided an introduction to the devices, that format isn’t effective as a stand-alone educational strategy, she says.
Potter notes that many of the new devices are awkward to use. The problem was compounded because many new devices were introduced into the market quickly to meet the July 1 deadline of the law.
States that provide a longer phase-in period for implementation of new devices may see better results, she says. "It is an absolutely enormous undertaking," Potter states.
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