New sharps devices are technically better
Ease of use adds to needle safety
If you have doctors or nurses who still complain about awkward sharps safety devices, take a look at new technologies. There’s good news: Manufacturers have responded to concerns by producing safety devices that are more user-friendly, more effective, and integrate patient safety.
In fact, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires hospitals to consider new technologies each year as they update their exposure control plans. You’ll find niche products in areas that once had no safety-engineered devices.
“It seems as though [manufacturers] are listening to what people want,” says Robyn Silverman, senior project officer with ECRI, a nonprofit health services research organization based in Plymouth Meeting, PA. Silverman has been involved in developing the second edition of Sharps Safety and Needlestick Prevention, a device evaluation guide, which will be available later this year.
The greatest advances involve the introduction of a few truly passive devices, which do not require any extra effort on the part of the user, she says. “You want people to feel comfortable operating the device and operating the safety mechanism,” she says. “That’s one reason you want a passive device.”
Two-handed devices, which require users to use two hands to activate the safety mechanism, have fallen out of use, Silverman adds.
Yet the use of safety devices remains variable around the country, despite a federal law and an OSHA standard requiring conversion to safety-engineered sharps.
“Almost all hospitals in the United States are using at least some safety devices, but I don’t think we’re anywhere near 100% [conversion],” notes Jane Perry, MA, director of communications for the International Healthcare Worker Safety Center at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. “We’re still at the stage of working toward 100% compliance with safety devices. It is going to take a while to get newer, better safety devices adopted.” (See list of new safety devices.)
Where do you start in your quest for new and better devices? With your sharps safety log.
“The sharps injury log is a good tool to help [hospitals] decide which devices to evaluate,” says Amber Hogan, MPH, manager of health affairs for Becton Dickinson, a device manufacturer based in Franklin Lakes, NJ. “[Then] they can see where their injuries are continuing to occur or where the safety devices may not be as effective as they’d hoped.”
In some cases, needlesticks may continue to occur because health care workers aren’t activating the safety device. That might indicate that the device didn’t win acceptance from frontline health care workers, and they may need to be involved in an evaluation of other devices, she advises.
Surgeons and anesthesiologists, in particular, have been reluctant to adopt safety devices, often because they feel the devices would require a change in their techniques. Manufacturers are trying to respond to some of the concerns, notes Silverman.
For example, heavier reusable safety scalpels now are available, offering the same feel as the conventional device. Suture needles are sharper, while still blunt enough to avoid piercing the skin.
“There’s a range of bluntness with these needles,” Perry says. “Some of them are almost as sharp as regular sharp suture needles.”
Convincing surgeons that a better device is now available may be challenging, she acknowledges. “With suture needles, a lot of times physicians especially have tried earlier generations of devices and said this didn’t work for us,” she says. “It can be hard to get their attention again and say there are better things.”
In some categories, a hospital may choose not to adopt an advanced device if the current safety device has eliminated needlesticks. OSHA does not require hospitals to make changes, Hogan notes, who previously worked in compliance assistance with OSHA.
“You don’t need to evaluate the same technologies every year, but keep abreast of new technologies and determine if the ones you chose are effective,” she says.
Document your review so you can demonstrate that you have evaluated new technology, Silverman advises.
Better technology may help with acceptance of some devices, but it still may be difficult to change behavior, particularly in the OR, needle safety experts say.
“The problem is often not with the technology. The problem is with behavior modification,” says Hogan. “It’s just something that’s going to be eventual. As technology for safety becomes better, we can speed [the conversion to safety] along a little bit more.”
If you have doctors or nurses who still complain about awkward sharps safety devices, take a look at new technologies. Theres good news: Manufacturers have responded to concerns by producing safety devices that are more user-friendly, more effective, and integrate patient safety.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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