Sharps Control

[imnotdon]

I'm new to correctional nursing and work at a low/medium security institution in California. I'm looking for a better way to control and account for our hypodermic needle inventory. Currently the needles are sorted by size (22ga 1 ½", etc.) in individual small zip-lock baggies. It's really time consuming and laborious to open each bag and count each needle TID at shift changes. Has anyone got a better way to secure and account for needles, syringes, IV catheters, etc?

Thanks,

Eric

[ReniLPN]

I worked in a medium security unit in New Jersey. We would receive the syringes at the mailroom. There we would count the syringes and wrap them in bundles of ten. For example, a box of 1oo insulin, wrap them in 10s, seal the box back and write 100 on box. This makes the counting of the sharps much easier.

[nancykday]

I worked in a medium security unit in New Jersey. We would receive the syringes at the mailroom. There we would count the syringes and wrap them in bundles of ten. For example, a box of 1oo insulin, wrap them in 10s, seal the box back and write 100 on box. This makes the counting of the sharps much easier.

We also wrap our syringes in groups of 10, but we also sign out for each needle and/or sharp. All sharps are held in the med room and each is signed out for accounted for individually ona sign out sheet, much like the narc count and all sharps are counted each shift by the oncoming and off going nurses. As i said, just like the narcs.

[MadisonsMomRN, BSN, RN]

We also wrap our syringes in groups of 10, but we also sign out for each needle and/or sharp. All sharps are held in the med room and each is signed out for accounted for individually ona sign out sheet, much like the narc count and all sharps are counted each shift by the oncoming and off going nurses. As i said, just like the narcs.

This is how we do it too. We will put the sharps in baggies in 10's. We will then tape those and write 10 on the bag. The one baggy that is not taped is the only one we have to count each syringe individually. We do this for each type of syringe... TB's, insulins, 3cc, 10cc, IV caths etc, etc. We sign out each sharp as we use it. It can be time consuming if you have a lot of sharps but they all must be accounted for. We do this with each change of shift.

At the prison I work at it takes awhile to count narcs and sharps (I work in the infirmary) ... but at the county we have much less to count so it doesn't take that long.