Roughly 385,000 sharps injuries, like needlestick injuries, occur annually to hospital employees, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, putting healthcare workers at risk of contracting bloodborne pathogens. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., however, recently reduced needlestick injuries by nearly 70 percent.
Here are five things to know about RWJUH's journey to reduced needlestick injuries, from a study published in the Journal of the Association of Occupational Health Professionals in Healthcare.
1. Data analysis showed forward-shielding safety blood collection sets caused 30 percent of RWJUH's needlestick injuries in 2010 and grew to 43 percent the following year.
2. Every injury cost the hospital between $400 and $6,000, and the hospital would need to generate more than $106,000 in additional revenue to cover the cost of each injury.
3. Further analysis found 83 percent of the needlestick injuries caused by forward-shielding safety blood collection sets came at a certain time: after providers removed the needles from the vein but before the safety mechanism was activated.
4. So, hospital officials searched for a new forward-shielding safety blood collection set to use at RWJUH, finding a model with a split-second retracting needle with in-vein safety activation, thus making it extremely difficult for needlestick injuries to happen in between removal and the activation of the safety mechanism.
5. After training and conversion to the new device, injuries at the hospital dropped to 14 percent in 2012 and 2013.
"Part of a strong organizational and institutional safety culture is the willingness to take a systemic data-driven approach to investigating and addressing these issues," wrote Doris Dicristina, RN, BSN, director of employee health and wellness services for RWJUH and the study's author. "Despite the increase in device cost, RWJUH elected to do what is right for the clinicians who perform the procedures in question and live with their associated risks every day."
RWJUH is also starting to see cost savings, according to Ms. Dicristina.
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