Study Shows Dramatic Drop In Needlestick Risks For Healthcare Workers

[Guest guest]

Study Shows Dramatic Drop In Needlestick Risks For Healthcare Workers

http://www.emaxhealth.com/2/38/27864/study-shows-dramatic-drop-needlestick-risks\

-healthcare-workers.html

When working with needles, healthcare workers always have to be concerned about

contracting a life-altering or even life-threatening infection from HIV,

hepatitis B or hepatitis C. But after 20 years of intense regulatory and

legislative activity and innovative changes to the design and handling of

needles, U.S. healthcare workers are now significantly safer from needlestick

injuries, according to a new study from the University of Virginia International

Healthcare Worker Safety Center.

" Since the U.S. Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act was passed in 2000,

American healthcare workers have benefited from an unprecedented level of

protection from occupationally transmitted diseases, " says Janine Jagger,

M.P.H., Ph.D., director of the Center and co-author of the study published in

the December 8 issue of the Journal of Infection and Public Health.

" This is a very significant advance and a remarkable public health success

story, " says Elayne , M.P.H., Ph.D., assistant professor in the UVA

School of Medicine and director of research for the International Healthcare

Worker Safety Center, who co-authored the study with Jagger.

Researchers analyzed 12 years of needlestick injury data (1993-2004) from a

large network of U.S. hospitals and found a 34 percent decline in needlestick

injury rates for U.S. healthcare workers overall and a 51 percent decline for

nurses, who handle needles most frequently in healthcare settings. And while the

needlestick law wasn't passed until 2000, Jagger and colleagues spent many years

preceding its passage lobbying for stronger regulations.

For the last 20 years, Jagger has been a leading advocate not only for

legislation but also for the development of safety-engineered medical devices to

protect health workers. Such safety devices incorporate shielding, retracting or

blunting features that protect workers from contaminated sharp devices.

In this study, researchers found that significant reductions in U.S. sharps

injury rates were observed only after safety devices became the predominant

technology. Furthermore, the passage of the law requiring the use of these

safety devices was critical to their widespread adoption.

Exposure to patients' blood and body fluids through needlesticks and other sharp

medical devices is the most potentially life-threatening risk healthcare workers

face in the course of their work. Even the anxiety that follows such

occupational injuries - as workers wait for HIV or hepatitis test results - can

have an adverse impact on their professional and personal lives.

The study also found that the largest reductions in injury rates were for two

devices with the highest risk of transmitting infections. These two high-risk

devices, phlebotomy needles and I.V. catheter needles, showed reductions of 59

percent and 53 percent respectively.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that U.S. healthcare

workers sustain an estimated 384,000 needlestick injuries each year. According

to figures from the World Health Organization, nearly three million healthcare

workers worldwide are exposed to bloodborne diseases in the course of their work

every year, resulting in as many as 15,000 hepatitis C infections, 70,000

hepatitis B infections and 500 HIV infections annually. More than 90 percent of

these occupational infections occur in developing countries - precisely where

health workers are scarcest.

Jagger and strongly advocate that other countries adopt needlestick

safety regulations. " Healthcare workers in the poorest countries, whose lives

are at greatest risk, should be afforded the same level of protection as those

in the U.S., " says Jagger

The UVA International Healthcare Worker Safety Center seeks to reduce

life-threatening occupational infections from bloodborne diseases by working

towards a global standard for healthcare worker protection. The Center has been

a national and international advocate for nearly two decades for safer medical

devices, equipment and practices that protect healthcare workers from infectious

diseases.

By: University of Virginia Health System - Sat, 12/20/2008 - 16:42

[Guest guest]

Study Shows Dramatic Drop In Needlestick Risks For Healthcare Workers

http://www.emaxhealth.com/2/38/27864/study-shows-dramatic-drop-needlestick-risks\

-healthcare-workers.html

When working with needles, healthcare workers always have to be concerned about

contracting a life-altering or even life-threatening infection from HIV,

hepatitis B or hepatitis C. But after 20 years of intense regulatory and

legislative activity and innovative changes to the design and handling of

needles, U.S. healthcare workers are now significantly safer from needlestick

injuries, according to a new study from the University of Virginia International

Healthcare Worker Safety Center.

" Since the U.S. Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act was passed in 2000,

American healthcare workers have benefited from an unprecedented level of

protection from occupationally transmitted diseases, " says Janine Jagger,

M.P.H., Ph.D., director of the Center and co-author of the study published in

the December 8 issue of the Journal of Infection and Public Health.

" This is a very significant advance and a remarkable public health success

story, " says Elayne , M.P.H., Ph.D., assistant professor in the UVA

School of Medicine and director of research for the International Healthcare

Worker Safety Center, who co-authored the study with Jagger.

Researchers analyzed 12 years of needlestick injury data (1993-2004) from a

large network of U.S. hospitals and found a 34 percent decline in needlestick

injury rates for U.S. healthcare workers overall and a 51 percent decline for

nurses, who handle needles most frequently in healthcare settings. And while the

needlestick law wasn't passed until 2000, Jagger and colleagues spent many years

preceding its passage lobbying for stronger regulations.

For the last 20 years, Jagger has been a leading advocate not only for

legislation but also for the development of safety-engineered medical devices to

protect health workers. Such safety devices incorporate shielding, retracting or

blunting features that protect workers from contaminated sharp devices.

In this study, researchers found that significant reductions in U.S. sharps

injury rates were observed only after safety devices became the predominant

technology. Furthermore, the passage of the law requiring the use of these

safety devices was critical to their widespread adoption.

Exposure to patients' blood and body fluids through needlesticks and other sharp

medical devices is the most potentially life-threatening risk healthcare workers

face in the course of their work. Even the anxiety that follows such

occupational injuries - as workers wait for HIV or hepatitis test results - can

have an adverse impact on their professional and personal lives.

The study also found that the largest reductions in injury rates were for two

devices with the highest risk of transmitting infections. These two high-risk

devices, phlebotomy needles and I.V. catheter needles, showed reductions of 59

percent and 53 percent respectively.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that U.S. healthcare

workers sustain an estimated 384,000 needlestick injuries each year. According

to figures from the World Health Organization, nearly three million healthcare

workers worldwide are exposed to bloodborne diseases in the course of their work

every year, resulting in as many as 15,000 hepatitis C infections, 70,000

hepatitis B infections and 500 HIV infections annually. More than 90 percent of

these occupational infections occur in developing countries - precisely where

health workers are scarcest.

Jagger and strongly advocate that other countries adopt needlestick

safety regulations. " Healthcare workers in the poorest countries, whose lives

are at greatest risk, should be afforded the same level of protection as those

in the U.S., " says Jagger

The UVA International Healthcare Worker Safety Center seeks to reduce

life-threatening occupational infections from bloodborne diseases by working

towards a global standard for healthcare worker protection. The Center has been

a national and international advocate for nearly two decades for safer medical

devices, equipment and practices that protect healthcare workers from infectious

diseases.

By: University of Virginia Health System - Sat, 12/20/2008 - 16:42