Needle Stick And Sharp Object Injuries Research Paper

Mohohammadnejad, E., Dopolani, F. N., (2015). Risk factors of needle stick and sharp injuries among health care workers. (2015). Journal of Nursing & Midwifery Sciences, 2(1), 34-39

As health care workers we are under a legal obligation to protect an individual from any kind of abuse, whether it is physical, financial, emotional, sexual or psychological .Legislation, policies and procedures exist to promote a safer working environment and reduce the potential for risks occurring. They are tailored for the needs of each setting, known and understood by employers and employees and reviewed on a regular basis.

One of the primary goals of patient care has been safety for a long time. How patient safety is regulated has changed throughout history. Between 1917 and 1918, the American College of Surgeons developed The Minimum Standards for Hospitals which was a one page document that lead to The Joint Commission (TJC, 2014). Founded in 1951 with accreditation beginning January 1953, TJC is currently the oldest and largest organizations setting standards for patient safety (TJC, 2014). The American College of Surgeons required ethics for physicians in 1951 (TJC, 2014). Today TJC and other credentialing organizations require all staff, clinical or not, to participant in patient safety goals. Regardless of the organization you work for, patient safety will

Over the last several years, a wide variety of health care organizations have been facing a number of challenges. This is because of pressures associated with: rising costs, increasing demands and larger numbers of patients. For many facilities this has created a situation where patient safety issues are often overlooked. This is because the staff is facing tremendous amounts of pressure, long hours and more patients. The combination of these factors has created a situation where a variety of hospitals need to improve their patient safety procedures. In the case of Sharp Memorial Hospital, they are focused on addressing these issues through different strategies. To fully understand how they are able to achieve these objectives requires looking at: specific ways the organization has responded to the crisis in medical errors, their definition of patient safety, the causes of errors, systematic barriers and transformations that have been adopted. Together, these different elements will provide the greatest insights as to how the facility is coping with the crisis in patient safety.

Each health care employer shall upon request, make available their findings and data for at least 5 years; 5) post a uniform notice that explains the standard and the procedures to report patient handling-related injuries. The notice must explains procedures to report patient handling-related injuries; and explains health care workers’ rights under this Act, including any whistleblower protections. Each health care employer shall conduct an annual written evaluation of the implementation of their programs.

Health care workers are often hit, kicked, punched, pushed, scratched, bitten, spit on, threatened with a weapon, harassed by patients, family members, or visitors. How often does this happen? In a 2014 survey close to 70% of nurses reported being attacked while on the job within the last year (Jacobson, 2014). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, health care workers experience the most non fatal workplace violence when compared to other professions. Workplace violence towards health care workers is an international issue. (Waschgler, 2012) Nurses are often required to get uncomfortably close to very stressed out people. Some assaults come from psychotic persons brought into the emergency department, drunks, drug users, demented people, but most of the violence is not explainable. In the 2014 survey, 50% of the assaults came from patients or their family members who were drunk or on drugs. Numerous people attack nurses out of frustration. Rita Anderson, an Arizona-based emergency room nurse, was instrumental in getting the New York State Violence

Needle Sharps injuries (NSI) in Australia. What can do about better safety practices to reduce injury to healthcare providers

Maintaining a secure surrounding is a reflection of the organizational culture and an indicator of the level of compassion and vigilance that the organization has for the workers and the welfare of the patients. The management needs to improve safety and assess the causes of error during the handling of patients. As a matter of fact, the stakeholders and the policymakers need to intense their efforts to establish and structure conditions and process that will promote healthy working conditions and improve the patient safety. Health care staff need to be trained in the proper skills of handling patients with terminal and highly infectious diseases. The workers and the management should ensure that the workers are provided with the relevant protective gears while handling a patient. The cases of nonlethal activity injuries are the main reasons for sickness among the staff. Purchase and use of patient transfer and lifting facilities are the key elements of an efficient program to manage the danger of injury to patients and employees related to lifting, moving, locating or movement of patients. It will also show the level of management commitment to implement a secure patient handling program and to supply the health workers with applicable measures to avoid manual handling. The education and coaching of aid staff ought to be in gear towards assessment of hazards within the assistance work setting, choice and use of the acceptable patient lifting instrumentation and devices, and review of research-based practices of safe patient

Workplace violence (WPV) has been an increasing problem for many years, but it is hitting the healthcare profession hardest.(1) A crime survey done in 2014 by the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS) found that violent crimes in the US healthcare system increased by 25% from 2012 to 2013.(2) Nearly 24,000 assaults in the work environment occur every year, with nearly 70-75% occurring to healthcare providers alone.(3, 4) Due to this increased risk of assault while working, healthcare workers are nearly 4 times as likely to need time off of work due to an injury caused by workplace violence than any other cause (i.e. illness, family leave, etc).(3) In a 2001 document from the United States Bureau of Justice, it was reported that 1.62% of physicians were assaulted (16.2 assaults per 1,000), 2.19% of nurses were assaulted (21.9 assaults per 1,000 nurses), and 0.85% of other healthcare workers (with varying job titles) were assaulted (8.5 assaults per 1,000 employees).(5) In 2011, the United States Bureau of Justice measured the workplace violence rate for nurses to be 3.9% (3.9 assaults per 1,000), almost doubling the numbers from 2001 in just 10 years.(1) The United States Bureau of Justice also reported that of the 100 fatalities that occurred in the workplace of healthcare and social service employees in 2013, 27 of the fatalities were due to violent attacks and assaults.(4)

Each year, 385,000 needlestick injuries and other sharps related injuries are sustained by hospital based healthcare professionals; which equates to an average of almost 1,000 sharps injuries per day in the U.S. Accidental needlestick and sharps not only cause injuries, but they also carry a major risk for transmission of blood borne infections. Although virtually all healthcare workers are at risk of harm from occupational exposures such as these, the Center for Disease Control notes that nurses sustain approximately half of all needlestick injuries. While there are several precautions and regulations implemented on the administration and disposal of sharps, many

Needle Sharps injuries (NSI) in Australia. How can safety practices be improved to reduce injury to healthcare providers.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize and analyze the quality and reliability of articles from certain sources. The articles are about injuries in nursing, and ways to prevent them. The method was to find two sources that seemed questionable and two that seemed reliable, briefly discuss the topics and summarize the articles, and then analyze them. I have found that although two of the sources seemed questionable and two of them seemed reliable, three of the sources are actually reliable and one of them is actually questionable. I learned that to really find reliable sources, more research has to be done than one might think, and that just because a source looks good does not mean that source is reliable and should

Money aside, when sharps injuries or transmission through bodily fluids aren’t reported, medical providers may potentially spread an illness to their family, friends and others they work with or are in close contact with. Markedly, various studies have discussed the underlying issues of underreporting of sharps injuries among physicians. Further literature review indicates the correlation between underreported sharps injuries was linked to worker inexperience. Medical students and training physicians where among the highest percentage of those who didn’t follow devised safety protocols and record injury incidents. These categories of inexperienced worker’s misjudgment of performance potential and disregard for safety protocols are likely to place them at increased risk for exposure (Occupational Health Surveillance Program, 2011). Despite these misguided ideals and the difficult challenges facing health care workers all over the world to provide better quality health services with fewer resources along with adapting to changes in the care delivery on a tight budget, workers’ safety should still be among health care facilities’ top

Worker 1 (W1, AFSAS Person 1) grab suture needle (OBJ1, AFSAS Object 1) resulting in a needle poke.

This assignment will focus on one of the extremely important topics of the many hazards in the healthcare work place that may pose as a threat to my health and safety in the Care Industry.