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Press Release
Needlestick Prevention Resource
New NIOSH Needlestick Prevention Resource Shares Lessons Learned From
Real-life Programs
September 23, 2002—A new, Web-based resource from the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) shares information on ways in which
some health care facilities have established programs for protecting
employees from the risk of job-related needlesticks.
See the NIOSH Web site, "Safer Medical Device Implementation in
Health Care Facilities: Lessons Learned," at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/bbp/safer/.
The site describes five essential steps for developing, establishing,
and maintaining a needlestick-prevention program, and offers first-hand
experiences from hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, and dental
facilities as to how they put those steps into effect. The facilities
discuss barriers they encountered in establishing the programs, how those
barriers were overcome, and lessons learned from their experiences.
"Sharing information on what works in actual practice, why it
works, and how it can work elsewhere is a key step in helping health-care
employers to protect their employees from the risk of bloodborne infections
from needlesticks," said NIOSH Director John Howard, MD. "We are
pleased to join with our partners to help disseminate this information
widely."
Job-related needlesticks can lead to serious or potentially fatal
infections from bloodborne pathogens such as hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C
virus, or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Even when a serious infection
is not transmitted, the emotional impact of a needlestick injury can be
severe and long-lasting. Under the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act of
2000 and the subsequent revision of the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration's bloodborne pathogens standard, health care facilities are
required to use safer devices to reduce the risk of needlesticks.
The five strategic steps for needlestick prevention programs are
- forming a sharps injury prevention team,
- identifying priorities,
- identifying and screening safer medical devices,
- evaluating safer medical devices, and
- instituting and monitoring the use of safer devices.
For each step, the NIOSH Web page includes links to the accounts by
health care facilities as to how they put that step into effect.
NIOSH invites additional health care institutions to share their
experiences on the Web site. The site includes a link for contacting NIOSH
and obtaining guidelines on submitting information. For purposes of
confidentiality, the site does not disclose the names or locations of the
facilities involved.
Further information on preventing needlesticks, including the NIOSH
Alert, "Preventing Needlestick Injuries in Health Care Settings,"
is available at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/bbp.
For other information on NIOSH research and recommendations for preventing
work-related injuries and illnesses, call toll-free 1-800-35-NIOSH
(1-800-356-4674) or visit http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/homepage.html.
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