The Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act of 2000 updated a 30-year-old bloodborne pathogens standard enforced under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Key revisions mandate the use of safer medical equipment (such as needleless systems and sharps with injury protectors) to reduce or eliminate health care workers’ exposure to bloodborne pathogens.

Under the 2000 law, employers must:

• keep a log of sharps injuries, with brief details of each injury, including the department where it occurred and the type and brand of device used
• regularly evaluate exposure plans and revise them if necessary to incorporate new, safer medical devices—and then document use of these devices
• ask frontline health care workers for ideas on how to avoid sharps injuries and make the workplace safer.

Ensuring facility compliance

To help determine if your facility is complying with the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act, answer the questions below.

Drawing blood

• Does your facility use blood-drawing equipment with safety features designed to prevent needlesticks?
• Does your facility use plastic (rather than glass) blood collection tubes?
• Has your facility replaced all unnecessary needles with needleless devices?
• Does your facility use lancets that automatically retract?
• Has the facilityfs staff been warned not to remove needles from blood-drawing devices by hand and not to recap needles manually?

Giving injections

• When possible, does your facility use prefilled syringes with built-in safety features?
• Does your facility use devices for I.M or S.C. injections that have retracting needles and other safety features?

Administering I.V. infusions

• Has your facility replaced old I.V. infusion systems with needleless ones?

Inserting peripheral I.V. lines

• Does your facility use vascular access devices that protect you from the stylet as you withdraw it from the patient?

Safeguarding specialized areas

• Does your facility have safety alternatives in place for specialized areas, such as the blood bank, operating room, dialysis area, and laboratories?

Evaluating the exposure control plan

Every health care facility should have a written exposure control plan that lists all jobs and duties that expose a healthcare worker to bloodborne pathogens. The plan should be assessed and updated yearly to incorporate new, safer medical equipment and to include ideas from nonmanagerial employees who perform direct patient care.

Keeping a sharps injury log

Your facility must keep a log of any needlesticks that occur. The log should include how the exposure occurred, exactly where it occurred, and what brand and type of device was involved. The log should be documented and maintained in a way that ensures employee confidentiality