Are We Still in the Dark Ages of Sharps Safety?

Maki and McCormick found that injuries continued to occur mainly during disposal of waste, linen or used procedure trays (19.7 percent of all injuries), administration of parenteral injections or infusion therapy (15.7 percent), surgery (16 percent), blood drawing (13.3 percent), or recapping of used needles (10.1 percent). They noted that making disposal units available at every bedside reduced injuries from needle disposal two-fold since 1975 to 1979. Maki and McCormick also reported that consistent application of a stringent post-exposure protocol and wide acceptance of the hepatitis B vaccine resulted in zero sharps injury-related infections for a three-year period.

Sharps Past and Present: Dark Ages? Middle Ages?

“We have left the dark ages,” McCormick says. “Most facilities have implemented a number of safety devices and workers are apprised of the hazards. The one area that is still problematic is the operating room. Many, many suture needles are used and there is reluctance on the part of surgeons to adopt newer devices, as they often feel different. It is a real hump to get past, as surgery is such a technical endeavor.”

“We have come some way but there is still a long way to go,” says Michael Sinnott of Qlicksmart. “Regulations are in place but there is a lack of resources and priority to regulate safety measures. Users are complacent, thinking, ‘It can’t be me because I have been using the current method for the last 20 years.”

“We may have left the dark ages but we may have only as gotten as far as the middle ages,” says Gareth Clarke, CEO of Inviro Medical Devices.