Are We Still in the Dark Ages of Sharps Safety?

Essentially, safety-engineered sharps are considered to be medical devices with protective features that blunt, retract or shield needles or sharps after use. Examples of needles with safety features include protected needle intravenous (IV) connectors; needles that retract into a syringe or vacuum tube holder; hinged or sliding shields attached to phlebotomy needles, winged-steel needles, and blood gas needles; protective encasements to receive an IV stylet as it is withdrawn from the catheter; sliding needle shields attached to disposable syringes and vacuum tube holders; self-blunting phlebotomy and winged-steel needles; and safer IV catheters that encase the needle after use.

But when is a safety device not a safety device?

“Marketers can create a false sense of safety with not-so-safe active devices, confusing ‘safety’ devices as being safe for both patient and staff when it is not necessarily so,” says Sinnot. “Prefixing ‘safety’ to a device does not make it safe.”

Andrew Rose, director of marketing for Smiths Medical, emphasizes that safety devices have achieved a reduction in occupationally acquired injuries. “Just as importantly, the introduction of safety devices has helped to raise the awareness of clinicians in all healthcare settings whereby in the coming years clinicians will only know ‘safety devices’ as the standard of care for protecting HCWs. With the existing range of devices available on the market today, the possibility exists that an HCW can bypass the safety mechanisms of many devices, either intentionally or unintentionally. A line exists with manufacturers and the clinical community where the need to develop and introduce new safety technology that eliminates the ability of the safety mechanism to be bypassed is balanced between the clinical and economic value the new devices will provide to the end user customers.”

According to OSHA, safety devices have their limitations. Many new devices have been developed to reduce the risk of needlestick injuries, but those that have been assessed vary considerably in their clinical efficacy and in their effectiveness in reducing rates of injuries. Also, needles with safety features may not be available or may not be a practical alternative to conventional devices in certain situations; in some cases, these devices have caused needlesticks while in use. Besides these limitations, there are obstacles to the use of needles with safety features, which include their increased purchase price compared with conventional devices, possible staff resistance to changes in the devices used, and the time required to train staff in the use of new devices.