Jennifer Howse
Res/351
May 11, 2015
Tracy Sipma
Current Events in Business Research Phlebotomist and nurses has been around for years and the article I am writing about will describe the business research process that came about to help prevent needles sticks.
How needle sticks occur The main reason health care workers are stuck by needles are from negligence. They are not taking the proper precautions and not following proper protocol when it comes to properly performing venipuntures. Blood exposure through needle sticks became apparent once the AIDS became an epidemic. People started taking the needle sticks more seriously. 800,000 needle sticks were being reported yearly. Health care professionals …show more content…
During a "pre-change" phase (nine to 12 months long, depending on institution), the incidence of needle sticks using conventional phlebotomy devices was monitored. Observation was heightened and reporting was encouraged. A total of 563 needle sticks were reported in surveys returned by 1,699 employees among the four sections of groups included-phlebotomists, nurses, residents, and medical students.
In phase II, three different safety devices (Becton Dickinson 's resheathable winged steel needle; Bio-Plexus 's bluntable vacuum-tube blood-collection needle; and Concord Portex 's vacuum-tube blood-collection needle with a hinged recapping sheath) were introduced to replace conventional phlebotomy devices for the next 12 months. When the survey was repeated near the end of this 12-month phase, needle stick injuries were significantly reduced with all three products. A total of 41 needle sticks were reported by the 1,421 respondents-a substantial decrease from pre-change findings. Of these injuries, 25 occurred prior to activation of the device 's safety feature after removal from the vein, and six occurred during activation. Thus, the only multi-center study to examine the effect of safety devices on the rate of needle stick injuries found a significant …show more content…
Long-standing medical costs for a single staff member who seroconvert from an occupational exposure to HIV can easily exceed $500,000, while implementing safer phlebotomy devices will cost a medium-sized hospital $10,000 to $12,000 a year. With the manufactures making safer devices to help with the daily needle use, many companies have purchased such devices and have sent staff to safety classes to learn how to safely perform the