Sharps Injuries Among Hospital Workers in Massachusetts: Findings from the Massachusetts Sharps Injury Surveillance System, 2012

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Massachusetts. Department of Public Health
• Description:
  Data Highlights and Prevention Measures: 3,019 sharps injuries (SIs) were reported in 2012. The SI rate for workers in all MDPH licensed hospitals was 16.4 SIs per 100 licensed beds, similar to rates for the three previous years (Figure 2). Comparable findings were observed in rates for employees (per full time employee equivalents) in acute care hospitals only (data not shown). These findings (Figure 2) suggest that the earlier observed decline in rates from 2002-2009 is leveling off. Not all workers report their SIs to employee health, thus this plateauing could possibly reflect a positive change, i.e., improvements in worker reporting. Nevertheless, these findings underscore need for a continuing commitment to preventing SIs. Hospitals in interpreting their own SI rates need to understand the employee reporting practices in their facilities. After excluding SIs involving sutures, 54% of the SIs involved Sharps with engineered sharps injury protections (SESIPs) (Table 5). This is a substantially higher proportion than observed in the early years of surveillance (32% in 2002) and is good news as it likely reflects increased use of SESIPS as required. However, while use of these devices is critical to preventing SIs, they are not failsafe. Inexperience and lack of training in use of these devices as well as flaws in product design can contribute to injuries with these devices. Hospitals should provide training in use of SESIPS and safe work practices, and seek input from front line workers in selecting devices as part of a comprehensive SI prevention program and continuous quality improvement. The presence of a SI prevention features is most crucial after the device is used. There were 280 SIs due to non-SESIPs that involved commonly used devices for which SEIPS are widely available. Of these, 154 (55%) occurred after use of the device (Table 9). These injuries could be thought of as never events in that use of SESIPs could have likely prevented the injury. SIs in the operating room constituted 44% of all SIs reported. Work-practice controls are particularly important in operating and procedure rooms due to the limited number of SEISPs available for use in these settings. These measures include use of neutral zone for hands-free passing and increased oral communication when transferring devices among staff. In addition to the use of blunt suture needles, evaluation of multi-dose administration of injection medications should be reviewed to incorporate use of SESIPs. Alternative methods of closure, such as staples and glues should also be considered. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Epidemiology Health Personnel Needlestick Injuries Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Health Care Workers Injury Prevention Needlestick Injuries Occupational Exposure Sharps Surveillance
• Publisher:
  Massachusetts Department of Public Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-12
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20061316
• Citation:
  Boston, MA: Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2014 Aug; :1-12
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• Performing Organization:
  Massachusetts State Department of Public Health - Boston
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Sharps injuries among hospital workers in Massachusetts: findings from the Massachusetts Sharps Injury Surveillance System, 2012
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:fb83a30eb7895515f97c9b5256cd5172a424784661000ffa00356af7556fa9a918760aa505c4f28f49b3b7bb613be5a1ed8b4563c57db5448be88182e5c91f57
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/224879/cdc_224879_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 884.83 KB ]