27-April-2011
"Preventing the spread of infection among patients and health care providers is a basic expectation," Sara Hart Weir of B&D; Consulting and the Safe Injection Practices Coalition said in a news release, "Safe Injection Recommendations Developed by Public and Private Stakeholders to Reduce Risk of Patient Infections."
"Although significant progress has been made, we need to make every injection a safe injection," Weir continued. "This will require a multifaceted, collaborative effort among all stakeholder groups."
The release was issued by the Premier healthcare alliance and the Safe Injection Practices Coalition who together announced the recommendation of solutions to eliminate the risk of infections from reuse of syringes and single dose vials and other unsafe injection practices.
The safety recommendations were developed by nearly 200 stakeholders, including representatives from government, public health, clinicians, professional and accreditation organizations, product manufacturers, and patients at an open meeting, convened by the Premier healthcare alliance and the Safe Injection Practices Coalition.
Collaboration among stakeholders, adherence to clinical best practices, surveillance, innovative product designs, and provider and patient education are all recommended solutions, the news release reported.
In the past decade, failures to follow safe injection practices (e.g., misuse of syringes, needles and vials) have resulted in more than 30 outbreaks of infectious diseases, including hepatitis C, and notification of more than 125,000 patients.
Although most providers follow best practices, a peer-reviewed study authored by Premier found 6 percent of providers inappropriately reuse single use vials on more than one patient; 1 percent reuse a syringe, only changing the needle for use on a second patient; and 15 percent reported reuse of a syringe to enter a multi-dose vial. Of this group, 6.5 percent, reported saving vials for use on another patient, representing approximately 1 percent of all respondents.
Safe injection guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that single-dose vials not be used for multiple patients, according to the news release. The guidelines also recommend syringes and needles to be used only once and not reused for another patient or to access a medication or solution that might be used for a subsequent patient.
According to participants at the Safer Designs for Safer Injections: Innovations in Process, Products and Practices meeting, ensuring safe injection practices in all health care settings will require a focus on monitoring current practices with increased oversight and enforcement; education and empowerment of clinicians and patients; and redesign of devices, products and processes to reduce risk.