[NRSKarenRN]

Fact Sheet

A Patient Safety Threat – Syringe Reuse
CDC Released February 2008


Important Information!

Please read this fact sheet if you have received a letter stating that you may be at risk due to syringe reuse by your healthcare provider.
Patients need to be aware of a very serious threat to their health – the reuse of needles or syringes, and the misuse of medication vials.


Healthcare providers (doctors, nurses, and anyone providing injections) should never reuse a needle or syringe either from one patient to another or to withdraw medicine from a vial. Both needle and syringe must be discarded once they have been used. It is not safe to change the needle and reuse the syringe – this practice can transmit disease.



Figure 1. Picture of a needle and syringe.
A single-use vial is a bottle of liquid medication that is given to a patient through a needle and syringe. Single-use vials contains only one dose of medication and should only be used once for one patient, using a clean needle and clean syringe.
Figure 2. Picture of a multi-dose vial.

A multi-dose vial is a bottle of liquid medication that contains more than one dose of medication and is often used by diabetic patients or for vaccinations. A new, clean needle and clean syringe should always be used to access the medication in a multi-dose vial. Reuse of needles or syringes to access medication can result in contamination of the medicine with germs that can be spread to others when the medicine is used again.


Whenever possible, CDC recommends that single-use vials be used and that multi-dose vials of medication be assigned to a single patient to reduce the risk of disease transmission.

Healthcare providers should always adhere to Safe Injection Practices under Standard Precautions to prevent disease transmission from needles, syringes, or multi-dose vials.

Reusing a needle or syringe puts patients in danger of contracting Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B, and possibly HIV. When it is discovered that reuse of a needle or syringe has occurred, all patients who may have been affected should be notified and informed to get tested.
Date last modified: February 25, 2008

[RN-Cardiac]

DUH!!!! Is someone actually doing this???

[Dolce]

Just the other day a patient and his wife asked me if we used all new syringes. I assured them that we did. But, really--its terrible that they even have to ask. Where did common sense go?

[madwife2002]

Who on earth would use a stringe for more than one patient I have never heard of such a thing? I know donkeys years ago maybe before Adam was a lad

[JeanineLPN1984]

I've never heard of re-using by nurses, but in home care I've had patients who reused insulin syringes ( they wanted to save money). What about the free syringe clinics in some cities so they won't share needles? Bet they are reusing them.

[herring_RN]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i...1bn9QD8V7JGQ01

[iwanna]

I was just talking to my son who lives in Vegas. He told me about the facilities re-using the sryinges out in Vegas. I was mortified that professionals would risk lives. How scary is that!

[vicky1964]

Originally Posted by RN-Cardiac

DUH!!!! Is someone actually doing this???

I think there's a difference between ditzy and dumb. Dumb is just not knowing. Ditzy is having the courage to ask!”

[vicky1964]

Originally Posted by iwanna

I was just talking to my son who lives in Vegas. He told me about the facilities re-using the sryinges out in Vegas. I was mortified that professionals would risk lives. How scary is that!

“The United States has got some of the dumbest people in the world. I want you to know that we know that.”

[sarahrain]

We should use new syringes/needle for each time. And not supposed to be kept. That's infection control rules for ISO.