Sharps Injuries Among Hospital Workers in Massachusetts: Findings from the Massachusetts Sharps Injury Surveillance System, 2014

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Massachusetts. Department of Public Health
• Description:
  2,946 sharps injuries were reported in 2014. The sharps injury rate for workers in all Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) licensed hospitals was 16.2 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. It is also possible this plateau reflects an increase in workers reporting these injuries. Hospitals, in interpreting their own sharps injury rates, need to understand employee reporting practices in their facilities. Of the reported injuries, more sharps injuries occurred among physicians than nurses (39% v. 36%) for the third year in a row. This differs from findings from earlier years where nurses accounted for more injuries than physicians. This likely reflects greater adoption over time of devices with sharps injury prevention features (SESIPs) for devices most often used by nurses. This overall pattern was driven by the experience in larger hospitals and was reversed in smaller and medium sized hospitals where nurses experienced 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). Targeted efforts to improve physician reporting of sharps injuries in some larger hospitals may also have played a role. Sharps injuries in operating and procedure rooms accounted for nearly half of all sharps injuries (46%). While engineering controls (for example, use of blunt suture needles or alternative methods of closure) may have limited application in the OR setting, work practice controls play an important role in the prevention of sharps injuries. Practices such as hands-free passing and use of neutral zones, as well as verbal cuing when passing instruments can reduce the risk of sharps injuries. The presence of a sharps injury prevention feature is most crucial after the device is used. There were 263 sharps injuries due to non-SESIPs that involved commonly used devices for which SESIPS are widely available. Of these, 180 (68%) 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. [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 Safety Practices 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:20061426
• Citation:
  Boston, MA: Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2016 Apr; :1-12
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2016
• 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, 2014
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4d56e846d434a0a7df76203624d4b35f74cc0a0b1d01e1a5a506e5a917c7f336862da6340a964c69053a2ccfb1759686c92baa2a44d31392389c794a783b7f4f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/224960/cdc_224960_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 370.97 KB ]