Excerpt of AORN Recommended Practices
For Standard and Transmission-Based Precautions in the Perioperative Practice Setting
Recommended Practice III: Personnel should take precautions to prevent injuries caused by scalpels and other sharp instruments.
Interpretive statement 1: Surgical team members should use hands-free techniques, whenever possible and practical, instead of passing needles and other sharp items hand to hand.
Rationale: Studies show that most injuries from sharps occur when suture needles or sharps are passed between perioperative team members. Changes in surgical practice to minimize manual manipulation of sharps (i.e., no-touch techniques) can have a major effect on these injuries.1 Creating a "neutral" zone (i.e., where instruments are put down and picked up, rather than passed hand to hand) may decrease injuries from sharp instructions.1
Interpretive statement 2: All sharps should be handled, removed, and disposed of properly.
Rationale: Containing contaminated sharps in impervious disposal containers helps prevent injuries to personnel cleaning the room or equipment after use.1 Used needles should not be sheared, bent, broken, recapped, or resheathed by hand. If recapping is required, mechanical devices or the one-hand technique should be used.2 Knife blades should be removed using an instrument or device. Disposable sharps should be placed in a puncture-resistant, labeled container.2 Reusable sharps should be placed in a puncture-resistant container or otherwise separated from other instruments as soon as possible after use.
[Editor’s note: To order the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses’ Standards, Recommended Practices, and Guidelines 1999, contact: AORN Inc., 2170 S. Parker Road, Suite 300, Denver, CO 80231-5711. Attention: Customer Service. Telephone: (800) 755-2676, ext. 1. Fax: (303) 750-3212. Web: www.aorn.org. Click on AORN’s Perioperative Bookstore.]
References
1. Gerberding JL. Procedure-specific infection control for preventing intraoperative blood exposures. Am J Infect Control 1993; 21:365-366.
2. Occupational exposure to bloodborne Pathogens; Final Rule. 56 Federal Register 64,118 (Dec. 6, 1991).
Source: Reprinted with permission from Association of periOperative Registered Nurses Standards, Recommended Practices, and Guidelines 1999, pp. 311-312 © AORN Inc., 2170 S. Parker Road, Suite 300, Denver, CO 80231.
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