Overview of Sharps Injuries Among Hospital Workers in Massachusetts

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Massachusetts. Department of Public Health
• Description:
  Background: Healthcare worker exposures to bloodborne pathogens as a result of injuries caused by contaminated needles and sharp devices, also known as percutaneous injuries, are a significant public health concern. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that approximately 1,000 sharps injuries (SIs) occur in U.S. hospitals daily. In 2001, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) promulgated regulations regarding sharps injury surveillance and prevention (105 CMR 130.1001 et seq) requiring that all acute and non-acute care hospitals licensed by MDPH incorporate the use of devices with sharps injury prevention features into the provision of patient care and submit an Annual Summary of Sharps Injuries to MDPH. This led to the establishment of the Massachusetts Sharps Injury Surveillance System. The surveillance system publishes findings about occupations at risk as well as devices, procedures and departments associated with SIs. It also serves as a vehicle for hospitals and healthcare workers in Massachusetts to share information about challenges and successful prevention strategies. Methods: All healthcare workers in MDPH licensed hospitals are included in the population under surveillance. This includes hospital employees, non-employee practitioners, employees of other agencies working in the hospital, those providing patient care services without compensation, such as students, and anyone else working within the facility, regardless of their source of compensation. A reportable exposure incident is defined as any percutaneous injury from a sharp that is contaminated or potentially contaminated with blood or other potentially infectious materials which occurs during the course of a hospital worker's job duties. Annual surveillance reports have been published with findings presented for all hospitals combined as well as by hospital size categories (defined by the number of licensed beds) and by teaching status. Distributions of SIs are presented in aggregate (counts and percents); rates using the number of licensed beds as the denominator are presented by hospital size. The most recent report, "Sharps Injuries among Massachusetts Hospital Workers, 2015: Findings from the Massachusetts Sharps Injury Surveillance System," and special topic reports are also available on the Occupational Health Surveillance Program web site. Data Highlights: All MDPH licensed hospitals (approx. 98) have submitted data each year as required. A total of 43,117 SIs were reported to MPDH between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2015 (about 3,100 per year). The annual sharps injury rate in all hospitals combined declined significantly by 16.8% (p ≤ 0.05) from 19.1 sharps injuries per 100 licensed beds in 2002 to 15.9 in 2010. In that time, the proportion of SIs with devices lacking sharps injury prevention features has also declined. However, from 2010 to 2015 the sharps injury rate has plateaued. [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:
  1-2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20066453
• Citation:
  Boston, MA: Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2017 Aug; :1-2
• Email:
  Sharps.Injury@state.ma.us
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• Performing Organization:
  Massachusetts State Department of Public Health - Boston
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Overview of sharps injuries among hospital workers in Massachusetts
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9d8e2c06103377860aa92623b249a562408ab9caece10087ae0ae41e39bd0c1fc1cc17ac25ced720e9b1fd11e90613387d675d06d0a4404a2f8fec8ee8928c0d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/230959/cdc_230959_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 263.33 KB ]