Sharps Injuries Among Hospital Workers in Massachusetts: Findings from the Massachusetts Sharps Injury Surveillance System, 2015

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Massachusetts. Department of Public Health
• Description:
  2,866 sharps injuries were reported in 2015. The sharps injury rate for workers in all Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) licensed hospitals was 15.8 sharps injuries per 100 licensed beds, similar to rates for the three previous years (Figure 2). Comparable findings were observed in rates for employees (per 1,000 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 2002-2010 is leveling off and underscore the need for a continuing commitment to preventing sharps injuries. Hospitals, in interpreting their own sharps injury rates, need to understand employee reporting practices in their facilities. For the second time in 14 years, the percentage of injuries among nurses equals the percentage among physicians (38%) unlike earlier years when nurses accounted for more injuries than physicians. This may reflect greater adoption over time of devices with sharps injury prevention features (SESIPs) for devices most often used by nurses coupled with targeted efforts to improve physician reporting of sharps injuries in some larger hospitals. This overall pattern was driven by the experience in larger hospitals and was reversed in smaller and medium sized hospitals where nurses reported more sharps injuries than physicians. This difference by hospital size may reflect differences in the types of procedures conducted (i.e., more surgery in larger hospitals). Injuries involving injection procedures accounted for 28% of all sharps injuries, with subcutaneous injections accounting for the majority of those (79% of injection related injuries). Of all injection related injuries, 20% occurred with non-SESIPs. In accordance with 105 CMR 130.1001 et seq, hospitals are required to use devices with sharps injury prevention features as a means of minimizing the risk of injury to healthcare workers from needles and other sharps. The high number of injuries involving non-SESIPs indicates that more work needs to be done to promote use of SESIPs. An additional 78% of all injection related injuries occurred with SESIPs. This high percentage of SESIPs likely reflects increased use of SESIPs as required. It is also important to evaluate the SESIPs currently being used in order to identify opportunities for using more protective devices. Regular evaluation of devices is necessary in order to select and implement devices that are more effective at preventing injuries. The presence of a sharps injury prevention feature is most crucial after the device is used. There were 229 sharps injuries due to non-SESIPs that involved common devices for which SESIPS are widely available. Hypodermic needles/syringes, most often used for injections, accounted for 174 of these injuries, and 68% (119) of the hypodermic needles/syringe injuries occurred after use. These 119 injuries after use could be thought of as "preventable adverse events" in that use of SESIPs may have prevented the injury. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Epidemiology Health Personnel Needlestick Injuries Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Health Care Workers Injury Prevention Needlestick Injuries Nurses Occupational Exposure Physicians Protective Measures 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:20061425
• Citation:
  Boston, MA: Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2017 Apr; :1-12
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• 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, 2015
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d01d51df5bc16662890364e9cbbfe18fdec9fba2dab88436856e43816431091cdf4b202aaccf65497745dee51132aae58e11b7e2926741b397888cf7423b2d5a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/224959/cdc_224959_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 883.88 KB ]