Sharps Injuries Among Hospital Workers in Massachusetts: Findings from the Massachusetts Sharps Injury Surveillance System, 2019

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Massachusetts. Department of Public Health
• Description:
  2,933 sharps injuries were reported in 2019. The sharps injury rate for workers in all Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) licensed hospitals was 16.3 sharps injuries per 100 licensed beds, similar to the rates for the three previous years. Comparable findings were observed in rates for employees (per 1,000 full time employee equivalents) in acute care hospitals only. These findings show that in contrast to the earlier observed decline in rates from 2002-2010, rates are slowly increasing, underscoring the need for a continued commitment to preventing sharps injuries. Hospitals, in interpreting their own sharps injury rates, need to understand employee reporting practices in their facilities. Nurses reported more injuries than any other occupation group. Nurses in small and medium sized hospitals reported more injuries than physicians, while in large hospitals physicians account for the greatest number of sharps injuries. This difference by hospital size may reflect differences in types of procedures conducted in the hospital setting (e.g., more surgery in larger hospitals). Injuries involving injection procedures accounted for 31% of all sharps injuries, with subcutaneous injections accounting for the majority of those (78% of injection related injuries). Of all injection related injuries, 18% 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 number of injuries involving non-SESIPs indicates that more work needs to be done to promote use of SESIPs. An additional 77% of all injection related injuries occurred with SESIPs. This high percentage of SESIPs likely reflects increased use of SESIPs as required. It also serves as a reminder that administrative and work-practice controls also need to be implemented in order to prevent sharps injuries. In addition, hospitals are encouraged to regularly evaluate SESIPs in order to select and implement devices that are most effective at preventing injuries. The presence of a sharps injury prevention feature is most crucial after the device is used. There were 247 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 182 of these injuries, and 66% (121) of the hypodermic needles/syringe injuries occurred after use. These 121 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:20066454
• Citation:
  Boston, MA: Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2021 Jan; :1-12
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2021
• 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, 2019
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8b7c6b9b2c53b24db91a5f26968f3564abf4c88e083142010b689ee9afb90e0383093f48ecee9146b7dd0c04e322c913998ff0340d94a5cbba1a7202178dfcff
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/230916/cdc_230916_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.02 MB ]