The Importance of Needlestick and Sharps Safety for Nurses and Staff in the Interventional Radiology Setting

Needlestick injuries continue to be one of the most serious health and safety threats in our health care workplaces. Because of the invasive nature and unique procedural circumstances of interventional radiology (e.g., dark environment, sterile drapes, etc.), nurses and radiologists are at a high risk of accidental needlestick and sharps injuries. As a natural result of these procedural circumstances, the focus of the staff is on the patient and his or her well-being, and it is likely not on the safety of the staff during or after the procedure, when the risk of injury is greatest. Despite the fact that the majority of US acute care facilities have now largely converted to the use of safety-engineered medical devices, after the first decade of the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act of 2000, a large number of nurses and other personnel still remain at serious risk of injury. By combining proactive measures—such as training staff on the correct use of medical safety devices, establishing injury prevention teams, and evaluating all medical safety devices thoroughly—with reactive measures like maintaining an accurate injury log, nurses will be able to come to work with a lessened risk of needlestick and sharps injuries and be able to educate one another on how to make these types of injuries a “never event” in the health care setting.