Safety needles

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I was a hospital nurse for almost 5 years and, in those years, the only time I ever saw a non-safety needle was when I had to deaccess a port that had been accessed by a home care RN.

I recently started working in home care and see many patients who have needles in the home for some reason or another- IM or subq shots, PAC access at home, etc. and none of the needles that they get from their supply companies are safety needles. One of the nurses I work with says this is because they are more expensive.

Just wondering other people's experiences. I would honestly think that if you need safety needles anywhere, you need them in the home where you have lay people giving injections!

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

There's a lot of things that would be really nice to have in home care that insurance companies won't pay for. Basically, if there is a cheaper model or a way to save money, that's the route that the insurance company will choose. Especially if the patient is covered by Medicare (and most are).

One could argue that safety needles are needed less in home care then acute care. The reason is that safety needles are designed to prevent needle-sticks with the contaminated needle. In home care, you usually know whether the patient has a blood borne disease like Hep C. In acute care, you may have no idea which of your 5 surgical post-op patients has a blood borne disease. Therefore there is a greater risk when a health care worker gets a needle stick in acute care then when the wife of an elderly gentleman gets one in home care.

However, the big issue that I see is proper disposal. Granted, safety needles still have the potential to cause harm when the safety features are engaged, but an unsheathed needle is going to do a lot more damage in a garbage bag then a safety needle.