How many sharps injuries occurred to US Healthcare workers in 2015 and how do we prevent them?

At the Association for the Healthcare Environment annual conference in Pittsburg last year, I was asked if I would do a brief video on sharps injuries.

I jumped at the offer (of course)  and spoke on the EXPO-STOP survey that Dr Linda Good and I conduct annually for the Association of Occupational Health Professionals (AOHP).

The 2015 data showed that:

• Approximately 1,000 HCW sustan a sharps injury DAILY
• 40% of reported sharps injuries  were from nurses, 35% doctors; and 2-4% were environmental services staff
• Of EVS staff, the two main causes were (I) handling sharps containers (ii) improper disposal of sharps (left on floor, bed, table, etc)
• Four prevention strategies were:
  • Helping your institution become more sharps aware
  • Using safety engineered devices more frequently and more correctly
  • Training staff until they are competent in the use of that device/procedure
  • Investigating EVERY sharps injury
• Thanks to AHE, if you would like to use the video in your training sessions click here.