Needle Stick Injuries: Risks, Effects, and Prevention

This article discusses the risks, effects, and prevention of needle stick injuries among healthcare professionals. It covers the potential health and psychological effects, causes of injuries, and effective prevention methods. The importance of engineering safer devices, changing risk behaviors, and using protective barriers is highlighted. Administrative controls and policies are also discussed as crucial measures to reduce needle stick injuries.

Running head: NEEDLES STICK INJURIES 1
Needles Stick Injuries
Name
Institution
Author’s Note:

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NEEDLE STICK INJURIES
Introduction
Healthcare-associated infection normally poses a major risk, especially for healthcare
professionals. An intensive care unit refers to a special department of health care facility or a
hospital that offers intensive treatment medicine. ICUs usually cater to people with life-
threatening or severe injuries and illnesses, which require close supervision and constant care
from life support equipment. Conversely, a needle stick injury (NSI) refers to a penetrating
wound with a sharp object that is possibly contaminated with the blood or the body fluid of
another individual (Katsevman, Braca, Sedney & Hatchett, 2017). Needlestick injuries represent
a key occupational risk in the health care sector, with professional nurses incurring a huge
burden specifically with objects that have been initially used on patients (Kashyap, Tiwari &
Prakash, 2018). In intensive care Units, Blood-borne infections are a key complication for
healthcare workers. Needles causing injuries to workers units include suture needles, disposable
syringes, IV catheter needles, butterfly needles, suture needles, and arterial blood syringes
(Wåhlin, Kvarnström, Öhrn & Nilsing Strid, 2018). Some of the personnel who are at high risk
of injuries in the critical care setting include nurses, physicians, and respiratory therapists. The
primary purpose of this paper is to explore needle stick injury among health professionals.
A needle stick injury refers to the penetration of the skin by a sharp object or a
hypodermic needle (Bajracharya & Bhandari, 2018). Needlestick injuries remain a reality for
individuals who often use needles, such as lab workers and nurses. It also can occur when it is

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handle trash. Research conducted by the CDC proved that a total of three hundred and eighty-
five thousand heath care employees accidentally stick themselves with sharp objects.
Health effects
Needles Stick Injuries (NSIs) have the potential of the transmitting bacteria, prions,
viruses and protozoa, the risk of contracting HBV (hepatitis B virus), HCV (hepatitis C virus)
and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) to patients and health care workers remains the
highest. In areas with higher rates of contracting diseases such as blood-borne, healthcare
professionals are at higher risk of contracting HIV and other diseases from a needle stick injury.
Psychological effects
The effect of NSIs can also include health anxiety, trauma-related emotions, as well as
depression (Yoshikawa, Wada, Lee, Mitsuda, Kuroshi, Aminaka & Moriya, 2018). These effects
may cause self-destructive behavior and functional impairment in daily life. Psychological
effects not prevented by knowledge about PEP or disease transmission.
Cause
Needles tick injuries remain a popular event in the environment of healthcare, more so in
ICUs. When drawing fluids such as blood and carrying out the procedure using sharps, accidents
may occur and increase the rate of transmission of blood-borne disease. Also, injuries commonly
happen during needle recapping or through improper dumping of devices into poorly located
sharps or an overfilled container (Ali, Hameed, Maqbool, Kazim, Aslam, Siddiqui & Hafeez,
2019). Needles stick injuries can also occur due to hospital overcrowding, limited awareness of

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factors linked to blood exposure, failure to establish standard precautions, inadequate distribution
of basic safety instruments, handling of contaminated needles and other sharp objects
Preventing sharps Injuries
The most effective ways of preventing the actual transmission of infection are to stop
exposure to needlestick injuries. The major prevention of needlestick injuries is attained through
the elimination of unnecessary needles and elimination of unnecessary injections (Reddy,
Joseph, Liu, & Straker, 2018). Some of the groups that are at high risk include surgeons as well
as the surgical staff who are in the operation Theatre and get injured from suture needles and
other sharps objects.
Given the fatal and serious, consequences of the injuries caused by sharp objects, it is
essential that measures to help in preventing sharps injuries among nurses and other health care
workers should be established. This section presents some of the approaches that can be used to
reduce these sharps injuries include engineering safer devices, changing risk behaviors, and
using protective barriers.
Engineering safer devices
Some researchers reviewed the rate of injuries caused by sharp objects in health care in
the United States, to find out the frequency of damages by a specific instrument used and the
degree at which the damage happened during the procedure. The researchers found out that most
of the injuries occurred due to disposable syringes (Akpinar-Elci, Bidaisee, Durgampudi, Radix,
Rodriquez-Guzman, Nguyen & Elci, 2018). This study can act as a catalyst for changing the
emphasis from the use of syringes to seeking engineering solutions for the prevention of injuries

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caused by other devices (sharps injuries). Therefore, to help reduce sharps stick injuries, the right
safety-engineered devices should be used for drawing arterial and venous blood. Nurses should
not use Syringes for drawing of venous blood, in its place, butterfly needles should be used since
they allow the patients' blood to be drawn directly into the tube containing blood. If a syringe has
to be used, then the sample should not be transmitted to a blood tube by putting the needle into
the rubber stopper of the tube; this increases the risk of the needle stick, since the nurse may miss
the stopper and instead use his hand (Trayner et al., 2018). Therefore a safety needle which can
be easily separated from the barrel of the syringe can be used instead. Conversely, for the
drawing of arterial blood, safety syringes should be used. Workers in intensive care units should
have a chance of evaluating different types of safety arterial blood gases syringes and should be
proficient and comfortable with the one they selected (Hada, Saurabh, Sharma, Nag, Gadepalli &
Maurya, 2018). Therefore, it is true that the use of engineering safer devices seems to be an
efficient measure presently available for the prevention of sharp injuries.
Changing risk behaviors
Many researchers argue that one of the best methods of preventing harps injuries is by
eliminating the practice of recapping thru education and by using puncture-resistant containers
for the dumping of used sharps (Mekonnen, Yosef, Teklegiorgis, Tesfaye & Dagne, 2018). Some
researchers also recommended that ICUs should not use recapped and instead use puncture-
resistant containers. These recommendations were used in the United Kingdom and Canada.
Therefore, to reduce sharps injuries, the used needle should not be recapped except when there is
a safe method of recapping (Hayes, 2018). Though most of the researchers failed to demonstrate

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a significant reduction in sharps injuries, this method can indeed be used as a strategy to prevent
sharps injuries.
Using protective barriers
Many researchers argue that the use of protective barriers can reduce sharps injuries by
the introduction of barriers put between the sharp object and the people using it. For example, the
use of instruments with the mechanism of passive safety that does not require those using them
to trigger can prevent sharps injuries (Ferrante, D’Agati, Rosa, Carini, Trovato & Fiore, 2018).
Though a few studies confirmed that the use of protective barriers is the best method of
preventing sharps injuries, the use of a needle cover in intensive care units can greatly reduce
sharps injuries.
Finally, even though the emphasis remains now on engineering controls, the above
mentioned alone remain insufficient enough to reduce sharps injuries. The other programs that
will help prevent sharps injuries include Recommendation guidelines, improved equipment
design, employee training, safe recapping procedures, effective disposal systems, and
surveillance programs.
Administrative control
Researchers defined administrative controls as a procedure, training, shift designs, or
policy that reduce the risk of danger to an individual. For instance, in this case, administrative
controls are training, policy, and procedure that will prevent sharps injuries to health care
workers. Administrative controls include scheduling, safe work practices, preventative health
measures, and training (Matsumoto, Sunakawa, Suda & Izumi, 2019). Administrative control can

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help the organization to protect and control all health care workers who are exposed
occupationally to body fluids and blood. The employer of any organization should have a written
plan for managing exposures, to offer relevant training as well as to offer hepatitis B
immunization to workers. This strategy requires the employer to be responsible for any worker
of the health care industry who fail to abide by precautions to reduce exposure (Trayner et al.,
2018). Though some researchers are against the use of this approach in the prevention of sharps
injuries, to me, this approach can significantly help to reduce the high rate of sharps injuries in
the workplace. The management should come up with appropriate measures that can help reduce
sharps injuries. This strategy requires that workers should report anything exposing them at risk
to the management for necessary actions to be taken.
Policy
A policy is a system of principles that guide decisions as well as to attain rational
outcomes (Nshimbi, 2019). The management usually adopts policies within the institution. These
policies enacted by the administration can help in the decision-making process. Therefore, the
policy mainly guides actions that are being taken by the organization. The increased incidence of
NSIs in most of the medical settings led to the development of policies in the health care
industry. These policies outline some of the measures that should be taken to prevent, or
necessary procedure to be used in the event of NSIs are some of the examples of administrative
control. The universal precautions, legislation, and standard have been enacted to reduce the
Needles stick injuries. The policy that the organization will use is known as Needlestick safety
and prevention policy. This policy will require a health care professional to use safer needle
instruments to prevent Needlestick injuries. Some of the important occupational health as well as

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safety measures that this policy will provide a guideline on include: proper training of health care
workers, provision of clothing and equipment for personal protection, creation of an effective
program that includes PEP, medical surveillance and immunization.
This policy is so essential because it will be used in informing health care workers of the
correct way to manage sharps injuries as well as contamination incidents within the institution in
order to improve the wellbeing and safety of both patients and staff. The policy is also important
because it helps in the prevention of Needlestick injuries mainly by disposal and handling of
sharps as well as the use infection control procedures, for example, appropriate hand hygiene as
well as personal protective devices. The institution will use this policy as a guideline for
explaining how the strategies mentioned above can be used to reduce sharps injuries (Zhao,
Zhang, Xuan, Mo, Huang, Liu & Guo, 2019).
The implementation, as well as enforcement thru regulatory or legislative policy of
internal precautions as well as other control measures, shall enhance prevention of Needlestick
injuries. The recognition of the policy by regulatory authorities is very crucial. Needle sticks
safety and prevention Act requires the use of safer needle devices, also known as engineering
controls, to prevent exposure as well as the participation of all health care workers in the
selection and evaluation of control measures. The implementation of this policy into the
organization will require a huge amount of resources. This is because resources will be used in
various stages. First, the health care workers must be trained on how the policy will be used.
Conclusion

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Presently, the technology and knowledge to prevent sharps injuries in the workplace,
particularly in intensive care units, do not exist. Nevertheless, most of these injuries remain
preventable with a constant push by the organization, individual caregiver, and management.
Some researchers argue that sharps injuries among the health care workers require safer devices,
education, a secure medical setting, and an adequate ratio of staff to patient. The following
recommendations can assist reduce the risk of needle stick injury to workers in intensive care
settings. Some of the recommendations include the use of safety-engineered butterfly needles
and the use of safety-engineered syringes. The implementation of these stated recommendations
shall help ensure the healthcare employees in intensive care units reside in a safe environment. It
shall also ensure that workers compliance with code of conduct.
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