Blood and Body Fluid Exposure Among Healthcare Workers and Personal Protective Equipment Usage in the United States.

Background: The International Safety Center disseminates the Exposure Prevention Information Network (EPINet) surveillance system to standardize a system for healthcare facilities to track mucocutaneous blood and body fluid exposures.

Methods: Occupational exposure incidents to blood and body fluids were recorded within the participant health systems and hospitals ( = 41), using the EPINet Blood and Body Fluid Exposure Report Form. Forms include detailed questions about the circumstances surrounding the exposure, including the type of exposure, body part(s) involved, and if the employee reporting the incident was wearing personal protective equipment (PPE).

Issues in understanding the impact of the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act on hospital sharps injuries.

Objective: Measuring the effect of the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act (NSPA) is challenging. No agreement exists on a common denominator for calculating injury rates. Does it make a difference? How are the law and safety-engineered devices related? What is the effect on injuries and costs? This study examines those issues in assessing the impact of the legislation on hospital worker percutaneous injuries.

Chinks in the armor: activation patterns of hollow-bore safety-engineered sharp devices.

A retrospective review of secondary injury data was used to evaluate the characteristics of percutaneous injuries from safety-engineered sharp devices. Injury rates and safety device activation rates differed by healthcare provider type. Approximately 22.

Risk of bloodborne pathogen exposure among Zambian healthcare workers.

Purpose: Understanding the risks of bloodborne pathogen transmission is fundamental to prioritizing interventions when resources are limited. This study investigated the risks to healthcare workers in Zambia.

Design: A survey was completed anonymously by a convenience sample of workers in three hospitals and two clinics in Zambia.

Disposal of sharps medical waste in the United States: impact of recommendations and regulations, 1987-2007.

Background: To gauge the impact of regulatory-driven improvements in sharps disposal practices in the United States over the last 2 decades, we analyzed percutaneous injury (PI) data from a national surveillance network from 2 periods, 1993-1994 and 2006-2007, to see whether changes in disposal-related injury patterns could be detected.

Methods: Data were derived from the EPINet Sharps Injury Surveillance Research Group, established in 1993 and coordinated by the International Healthcare Worker Safety Center at the University of Virginia. For the period 1993-1994, 69 hospitals contributed data; the combined average daily census for the 2 years was 24,495, and the total number of PIs reported was 7,854.

Increase in sharps injuries in surgical settings versus nonsurgical settings after passage of national needlestick legislation.

Background: The operating room is a high-risk setting for occupational sharps injuries and bloodborne pathogen exposure. The requirement to provide safety-engineered devices, mandated by the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act of 2000, has received scant attention in surgical settings.

Study Design: We analyzed percutaneous injury surveillance data from 87 hospitals in the United States from 1993 through 2006, comparing injury rates in surgical and nonsurgical settings before and after passage of the law.

Increase in sharps injuries in surgical settings versus nonsurgical settings after passage of national needlestick legislation.

Background: The operating room is a high-risk setting for occupational sharps injuries and bloodborne pathogen exposure. The requirement to provide safety-engineered devices, mandated by the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act of 2000, has received scant attention in surgical settings.

Study Design: We analyzed percutaneous injury surveillance data from 87 hospitals in the United States from 1993 through 2006, comparing injury rates in surgical and nonsurgical settings before and after passage of the law.