Please Help Make Retractable Safety Needles Mandatory

Nurses Safety

Published

You are reading page 2 of Please Help Make Retractable Safety Needles Mandatory

allnurses Guide

wtbcrna, MSN, DNP, CRNA

5,125 Posts

Specializes in Anesthesia.

Anesthesia uses lots of needles that it would be impractical to make retractable: Blunt needles, spinal needles, epidural needles, peripheral block/stim needles. A mandatory requirement like this needs to be studied in depth regarding the impact it would have on all specialities before any decision like this is made.

The one dirty needle stick I have had in 13+ yrs it would not have mattered if the needle was retractable or not.

Rob72, ASN, RN

685 Posts

Specializes in Infectious Disease, Neuro, Research.

I will confess, I do not support "safety needles". This is one of the intentionally neglected issues in nursing education. Proper training mitigates the problem to a greater extent than safety mechanisms, alone.

I'm a former senior phleb/EMT, with 20+ years of sticking full-time, in one capacity or another, with better than 30,000 sticks, using both "unsafe" and all (that I'm aware of)variations of safety needles.

If someone isn't taught how to drive, mandating that they wear a seat belt is of questionable value...:twocents:

elkpark

14,633 Posts

OP, do you realize that "100 signatures" means nothing in this kind of situation? The White House gets more letters and 'phone calls than that every day on many subjects. While 100 signatures might be significant for a petition to change something within an individual hospital, on a national scale it is meaningless. Now, maybe one million signatures ...

However, I agree with Rob 72, and am another of those who doesn't really see the point of requiring additional safety features on syringes, etc.

LRB79

9 Posts

Thank you to everyone who signed!!!

I would like to reply to the posts by saying...

I'm just a nursing student who would like to raise awareness about how nurses need more protection from needlesticks

Yes, I know 100 signatures will do nothing in this situation, 100 signatures was just the factory setting on the sight, but at least it's a start. It can't hurt. The point I see is - there are less people getting diseases when the safety needles are being used.

It's not the nurses fault that they weren't properly trained so the safety needles would be good for them, especially new nurses.

Maybe only needles used for drawing blood should be retractable or at least safer. I dunno, that's something I figured the experts could figure out once there is a million signatures.

Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.

Some of our anaesthetists won't use them. They're difficult to use and you can't get the same force behind them when you puncture the skin.

If you're careful and follow all your med and safety rules, using needles shouldn't be a problem.

elkpark

14,633 Posts

The point I see is - there are less people getting diseases when the safety needles are being used.

Do you have sources that support this statement (that it's actually true)?

(I'm not saying I don't think it's true -- I just don't recall seeing any hard numbers on this topic.)

Rob72, ASN, RN

685 Posts

Specializes in Infectious Disease, Neuro, Research.

1) The point I see is - there are less people getting diseases when the safety needles are being used.

2) It's not the nurses fault that they weren't properly trained so the safety needles would be good for them, especially new nurses.

#1 is veerry difficult to validate. The fact is, there are penalties if you aren't using safety mechanisms, so valid reporting, as with any self-reported study data, is nebulous.

#2 is a "hardware" solution to a "software" problem. It is not valid to replace quality training with a device. This is dramatically borne out by the LEOKA (Law Enforcement Officers Killed/Assaulted) report, released annually by the DoJ. Safety devices (vests, Tasers, LTL devices/ammo) have created an atmosphere where physical control of suspects is seen as "burdensome", "less than desireable", "excessive", yet, despite all the tech, the LEOKA numbers stay fairly constant, except in those departments where viewing the suspect as a threat, and mitigating that threat, has become the norm (usually in response to a massive failure of existing mecahnisms and tools, in conjunction with enlightened leadership).

To translate that to nursing, sharps are not, "little annoyances that may bite you...", they are dangerous tools that require precise handling and careful consideration of the procedures surrounding that handling.

Anne36, LPN

1,361 Posts

So far Im glad to say I have not worked at a facility without them. :)

I've had accidental needlesticks twice when trying to retract a used needle while giving flu shots. The point is this can be more risky that just putting a regular used syringe into a sharps container. The syringe in question was undoubtably very cheapo. It happened when my hand slipped on the barrel (glove wet with alcohol) while trying to pull the plunger with the other hand. This procedure was very difficult to manage one-handed. They really need to make spring loaded or one handed retractable syringes.

MN-Nurse, ASN, RN

1,398 Posts

Specializes in Med Surg - Renal.

I don't even try to engage the needle cover on syringes anymore. Just take them to the sharps.

AprettynewRN

21 Posts

Thank you to everyone who signed!!!

I would like to reply to the posts by saying...

I'm just a nursing student who would like to raise awareness about how nurses need more protection from needlesticks

Yes, I know 100 signatures will do nothing in this situation, 100 signatures was just the factory setting on the sight, but at least it's a start. It can't hurt. The point I see is - there are less people getting diseases when the safety needles are being used.

It's not the nurses fault that they weren't properly trained so the safety needles would be good for them, especially new nurses.

Maybe only needles used for drawing blood should be retractable or at least safer. I dunno, that's something I figured the experts could figure out once there is a million signatures.

I agree with the people who said that sub-standard "safety" needles do more harm than good, and especially that any protective needle is potentially dangerous if people aren't shown how to use them properly. I know where I started nursing they didn't and frustrated, I also took the route of simply disposing of it as a sharp for some time.

I've only had one needlestick and it was in removing a huber on a passed patient which I attribute to being flustered by a hellish patient load and lack of supporting staff. I made the mistake of not protecting myself by rushing and not being focused. I don't do that anymore as I'm not paid enough to get regular needlesticks on the job.

+ Add a Comment