Sharps injuries and their prevention: what the new European legislation may mean for palliative care services.

Approximately 3 million health-care workers throughout the world, and more than 1 million in Europe, experience a percutaneous injury each year as a result of accidents with needles or other sharps. The consequences of this can be devastating, ranging from fear, anxiety, discomfort, and embarrassment to contraction of blood-borne infections. A new European Union Directive on the prevention of sharps injuries that must be implemented by May 2013 aims to ensure that health-care workers throughout Europe have access to safer sharps and needle-free devices. The present paper outlines what the introduction of this directive will mean for health-care services, with particular consideration of palliative and specialist palliative care services.