A group of leading companies specializing in technologies to improve the safety of healthcare workers have unveiled an organization committed to reducing the number of sharps injuries that occur throughout the world each year.
The International Sharps Injury Prevention Society (ISIPS) will promote the services and products that encompass the entire universe of safety products, from modified sharps to alternative products that actually eliminate the sharp.
These safety products and services are essential weapons in the fight against accidental sharps injuries because not all sharps in the workplace can be eliminated by newer technologies. ISIPS will also act as a global clearinghouse for information on sharps injuries and preventive legislation.
"ISIPS is the first international coalition dedicated to increasing awareness of sharps injury prevention and promoting safety products and services," said Ron Stoker, founder and executive director of ISIPS.
"We extend an urgent invitation to all manufacturers of sharps injury prevention devices and services to join with us in providing a one-stop shop for healthcare workers the world over who are looking for best-of-breed products to reduce sharps injuries."
With unique products dedicated to safety in their own markets, eight leading companies have joined ISIPS in the quest for a dramatic decrease in sharps injuries on a global basis. The eight founding companies include Porex Medical, Medamicus, Bio-Plexus, Suturtek, Biomedical Disposal, Becton Dickinson, Inviro Medical Devices and B. Braun.
Membership in ISIPS is open to medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers, health organizations, healthcare professionals, medical waste disposal experts, hospitals, insurance companies, managed care organizations, alternate site providers and others interested in helping to prevent sharps injuries. In addition, ISIPS extends a special invitation for not-for-profit service groups to join.
The federal Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act, signed into law last year, was designed to help protect healthcare workers from accidental needlesticks. The newly revised OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, in effect as of July, requires the use of safer medical devices such as sharps with engineered injury protection and needleless systems.
The updated standard mandates that employees responsible for direct patient care must be involved in the process of identifying, evaluating and selecting safer medical devices. ISIPS provides a method for healthcare workers to do this by showcasing technologies and practices that reduce sharps injuries.
ISIPS grew out of the need to spread awareness and education about sharps prevention methods internationally. In the United States alone, more than 2,200 healthcare workers a day suffer accidental injuries from sharps. More than 100,000 needlestick injuries are reported in U.K. hospitals each year.
Needlestick injuries are virtually undocumented in many developing countries, but are estimated to equal or exceed those in the industrial world. It is believed that only one out of three needlesticks are ever reported.
Improperly discarded sharps also injure family members, housekeeping staff, and waste and recycling workers, or end up in places where they are a danger to the public, such as playgrounds and public beaches.
Although the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act was a victory against unsafe sharps, it is only one of many battles in the global war for healthcare worker safety, observed Stoker, adding that ISIPS is issuing a "call to arms" to all healthcare workers, hospital administrators, and health organizations to reduce sharps injuries by identifying, evaluating and selecting safer products.
"Safer needle devices work -- they have been shown to reduce accidental needlesticks by more than 80 percent," Stoker said. "Safety equipment exists that will prevent most sharps injuries. It is critical to the healthcare workers of the world that safer technology be adopted to protect them and others in related industries from these very avoidable injuries.
"ISIPS is committed to providing education about the variety of products and services that are currently available to reduce this global health hazard." For more information about ISIPS go to www.isips.org.
