Needlestick injuries in a major teaching hospital: The worthwhile effect of hospital-wide replacement of conventional hollow-bore needles

BackgroundNeedlestick injury (NSI) with hollow-bore needles remains a significant risk of bloodborne virus acquisition in health care workers. The impact on NSI rates after substantial replacement of conventional hollow-bore needles with the simultaneous introduction of safety-engineered devices (SEDs) including retractable syringes, needle-free intravenous (IV) systems, and safety winged butterfly needles was examined in an 800-bed Australian university hospital.MethodsNSIs were prospectively monitored for 2 years (2005-2006) after the introduction of SEDs and compared with prospectively collected preintervention NSI data (2000-2004).ResultsPreintervention hollow-bore NSI rates over 10 years persisted at a constant rate between 3.01 and 3.77 per 100 full-time equivalent employees (FTE) (P = .31). Rates for 2005 (1.93; 95% CI: 1.48-2.47 per 100 FTE) and 2006 (1.50; 95% CI: 1.11-1.97 per 100 FTE) were significantly lower than the average rate for the preintervention years (3.39; 95% CI: 2.7-4.24 per 100 FTE, P = .00004). This represents a fall of 49% (43.1%-55.7%) in hollow-bore NSI, contributed to by the virtual elimination of NSI related to accessing IV lines. More importantly, high-risk injuries were also reduced 57% by retractable syringe use with an overall budgetary increase of approximately US $90,000 per annum.ConclusionIntroduction of SEDs results in an impressive fall in NSI with minimal cost outlay.