FEATURE
Federal Agencies Encourage Use of Blunt-Tip Suture Needles BY MARTIN KING
T
o decrease the risk of needlestick injuries and any subsequent trans- mission of pathogens to surgical per- sonnel, officials at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Cen- ters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institute for Oc- cupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a safety recommendation in May encouraging health care professionals to use blunt- tip suture needles rather than standard sharp-tip suture needles to suture fascia and muscle when clinically appropriate. While needlestick injuries have been
decreasing among nonsurgical health care providers in recent years, that has not been the case among surgical workers, according to the safety recommendation.
Additionally, the safety recommendation says, available literature indicates that more than half of needlestick injuries in- volving suture needles occur during the suturing of fascia or muscle.
percent in surgical settings. The re- searchers analyzed data from 87 hospi- tals in the US from 1993 through 2006, comparing injury rates in surgical and nonsurgical settings. Of 31,324 total sharps injuries, 7,186 were to surgical personnel. Suture needles caused 43.4 percent of the injuries, scalpel blades caused 17 percent and syringes caused 12 percent.
Estimates of suture needle injuries are as high as 80,000 cases per year at a cost of $40 million, according to the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses.”
According to a study on sharps injuries published in the April 2010 Journal of the American College of Surgeons, after the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act of 2000 was adopt- ed, injury rates in nonsurgical settings dropped 31.6 percent but increased 6.5
Needlesticks could potentially ex- pose the injured person to bloodborne viruses, such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency vi- rus. Estimates of suture needle injuries are as high as 80,000 cases per year at a cost of $40 million, according to the Association of periOperative Regis- tered Nurses.
ASCs are generally exempt from the OSHA standard that requires some oth- er health care providers to maintain and submit an OSHA 300 log that includes reports on all employee injuries in their facilities. Some states, however, require ASCs to record and report sharps inju- ries, so ASCs are advised to check their state law carefully. The FDA also encourages all em-
ployers to report any adverse events involving sharps injuries promptly. Re- ports can be filed using the agency’s on- line reporting program available at www.
accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch. For a complete copy of the federal
blunt-tip suture safety recommendation, go to
www.ascaconnect.org and click on the Public Resource Library. The document is called “Federal Blunt-Tip Suture Safety Recommendation.” For additional information, contact ASCA’s Member Services Team at 703.836.8808 or
asc@ascassociation.org.
28 ASC FOCUS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38