Creating a Positive Culture of Safety around Sharps Injury Prevention

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Creating a Positive Culture of Safety around
Sharps Injury Prevention
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Culture of Safety

• The product of individual and group
• Values
• Attitudes
• Perceptions
• Competencies and
• Patterns of behavior
• that determine commitment to and the style
• and proficiency of an organizations health and
• safety management.
• (Reference Sorra et al, AHRQ Pub No. 04-0041)

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Safety Culture

• The shared values within an organization with
  regard to safety.
• Expressed in the willingness to evaluate and
  learn from adverse events
• (References Griffin Neal, Journal of
  Occupational Health Psychology, 2000
• Zhang, et al. Proceedings of the 46th Annual
  Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics
  Society, 2002)

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Safety Climate

• The shared perception, at a point in time, of
  the safety culture within an organization.
• The degree to which employees feel that safety
  is an organizational value.
• (References Griffin Neal, Journal of
  Occupational Health Psychology, 2000
• Zhang, et al. Proceedings of the 46th Annual
  Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics
  Society, 2002)

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Components of a Positive Culture of Safety

• Organizational commitment
• Demonstrated at the highest levels in the
  organization
• Management involvement
• Commitment of resources
• Employee empowerment
• Freedom to voice concerns about hazards

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Components of a Positive Culture of Safety

• Systems to acknowledge safe practices
• Reporting systems
• Injuries
• Safe behaviors
• Near misses
• Hazards

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Whos involved? Whats their role?

• Management
• Acknowledge positive behaviors
• Allocate resources for new safety products and
  processes
• Ensure that all staff are aware of and receive
  training when changes are made
• Address suggestions made by staff to improve
  safety

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Whos involved? Whats their role?

• Staff
• Acknowledge co-workers positive behaviors
• Provide feedback to management on safety
  activities and new devices
• Participate in training
• Voice concerns about hazards to management
• Offer solutions to identified hazards

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Safety Culture and Sharps Injuries
Nurses with a positive measure of safety culture
more likely to accept newly introduced IV
catheter safety device
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Safety Culture and Sharps Injuries
Measures of safety culture are associated with
compliance with safe work practices Employees
with higher measures of safety culture were half
as likely to experience blood/body fluid exposure
incidents
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Activities specific to Sharps Injury Prevention

• Engineering Controls
• List of conventional devices identifying where
  they are used
• Inventory of devices with safety features
• Rigid sharps disposal containers
• Training on the use of devices with safety
  features

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Activities specific to sharps injury prevention
(continued)

• Sharps Injury Prevention Committee
• Analysis and use of data in decision making
• Process for identifying and reporting hazards
• Process for reporting exposure incidents
• Well developed post-exposure management protocols

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Activities specific to sharps injury prevention
(continued)

• Bloodborne pathogen training
• Upon hire and annually
• Review of hazards, prevention measures and
  reporting protocols
• Educational campaigns
• In-services
• Posters

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Sharps Injury in the OR
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Safety Culture Factors

• Long shifts
• Use of sharp suture needle
• Use of long length of suture material
• Unable to leave operating room
• Waiting until the end of the shift to report the
  exposure

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Changes

• Shorter shifts to avoid fatigue
• Use of blunt suture needles
• Shorter suture material
• Identify someone in OR to call Occupational
  Health for exposures
• Triage exposure over the phone
• If necessary, Employee Health brings PEP to OR

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Impact of positive changes

• Reduction of hazards with suture needles
• reduction / elimination of injuries involving
  suture needles
• Improved reporting
• More timely post-exposure management
• Improved employee safety and patient care

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Culture of safety.

• the shared commitment of management and
  employees to ensure the safety of all care
  providers and patients in the facility.

Together we can make it work!