Sharps Injuries Among Hospital Workers in Massachusetts: Findings from the Massachusetts Sharps Injury Surveillance System, 2013

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Massachusetts. Department of Public Health
• Description:
  2,947 sharps injuries (SIs) were reported in 2013. The SI rate for workers in all Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) licensed hospitals was 15.9 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 2002-2010 is leveling off. This plateauing could reflect a positive change, i.e., increases in worker reporting of these injuries. Nevertheless, these findings underscore the 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. SIs related to injection procedures continued to account for a substantial proportion (29%) of the total injuries. Of these, nearly 80% are related to subcutaneous injections, and 75% involve Sharps with Engineered Sharps Injury Protections (SESIPs) (Table 6). This high percentage of SESIPs 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. Comprehensive SI prevention programs and continuous quality improvement should include training in use of SESIPS and safe work practices and seek input from front line workers in selecting devices. Twenty percent of SIs involved devices that were part of a pre-packaged kit (Table 7). Of these, hypodermic needles were the device most commonly involved in SIs. Notably, 22% of SIs with hypodermic needles from kits and 39% of SI with scalpels from kits involve non-SESIPs (Figure 4). Hospitals are encouraged to work with suppliers to ensure that kits with SESIPs are provided. The presence of a SI prevention feature is most crucial after the device is used. There were 271 SIs due to non-SESIPs that involved commonly used devices for which SEIPS are widely available. Of these, 178 (66%) 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:
  Health Personnel Needlestick Injuries Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Health Care Workers Injury Prevention Needlestick Injuries Occupational Exposure 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:20061427
• Citation:
  Boston, MA: Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2016 Feb; :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, 2013
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6aab02039bc08e8f39915f6a6b2a54bcdaf0e116305051f1fbcd2d4870d0194be0a34cc7f6cb2072a11d92eedd41517b83c956ed4ea3f8cc1f199c0febf2259e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/224961/cdc_224961_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 762.51 KB ]