How do you account for sharps?

[msalpas]

Can anyone describe a meaningful, accurate and organized way of tracking and counting sharps?

[t_heart]

I am not yet a nurse but I work in a juvenile correctional setting. One way its done is by doing a check-out clipboard (i.e. name, item, check out/check in times) for items like razors or tweezers. As for metal cooking utensils, etc., a count at the end of the shift is common at my work. What is totally annoying is when, say, the dental program "loses" a tool, fails to immediately inform necessary people right away, and the whole campus has to go on lockdown while staff must search every crevice of every room when really its discovered five days later it had fallen behind a counter. Or when a teacher or school "loses" a steak knife in cooking class, who didn't initially know how many steak knives there were to even begin with and, again, the whole campus has to go on lockdown and staff have to spend half the day searching rooms (rather than doing their necessary paperwork, groups, counseling, etc.). My point is that sharps must be counted or EVERYONE suffers. Hope this helped in some way.

[DesertRN2, MSN, APRN]

We account for sharps the same way we account for narcotics. They are counted every shift and signed for when used.

[Guest371144]

I have seen several ways to account for sharps. The best is to have a double lock on the long-term supply and take out packs of ten for use. This is for sharps such as needles and syringes. There is some type of log to draw down the active supply so each is accounted for. When using sharps for procedures, a list is counted before and after the procedure, then again after sterilization or other cleaning process. Always with signatures like with narcotics, as mentioned earlier.