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Needlestick Prevention/Sharps Safety

Overview

Occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens from needlesticks and other sharps injuries is a serious problem, resulting in approximately 385,000 needlesticks and other sharps-related injuries to hospital-based healthcare personnel each year. Similar injuries occur in other healthcare settings, such as nursing homes, clinics, emergency care services, and private homes. Sharps injuries are primarily associated with occupational transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), but they have been implicated in the transmission of more than 20 other pathogens. Source: CDC

Resources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

• Sharps Safety for Healthcare Settings
• Screening and Evaluating Safer Dental Devices
• Training: Basic Expectations for Safe Care

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH

• What Every Worker Should Know: How to Protect Yourself From Needlestick Injuries
• Selecting, Evaluating and Using Sharps Disposal Containers
• STOP STICKS CAMPAIGN

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

• Bloodborne Pathogens and Needlestick Prevention

International Safety Center

• Moving the Sharps Safety in Healthcare Agenda Forward in the United States: 2020 Consensus Statement and Call to Action

Fact Sheets & Information

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

• Workbook for Designing, Implementing & Evaluating a Sharps Injury Prevention Program
• Teaching Tools
  

Articles

• Preventing percutaneous injuries among dental health care personnel
• Preliminary Evidence Supports Modification of Retraction Technique to Prevent Needlestick Injuries

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