ECRI, an independent, non-profit health services research agency, will be releasing a guide, "Sharps Safety and Needlestick Prevention," for evaluating and selecting protective devices.
This resource, which will be available this fall, updates and expands on the 2000 edition of ECRI''s Health Devices Needlestick-Prevention Device Selection Guide.
"Sharps Safety and Needlestick Prevention" features comparative evaluations, including brand-name ratings, for more than 60 available "safety" devices in 13 different product groups.
Each evaluation contains supplier and cost information, a product description and the results of ECRI''s testing and its unbiased, independent analyses.
It also includes new informaion on federal legislation and updated selection and user guidance to help healthcare facilities comply with safer needle regulations.
The Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act, which was signed into law in November 2000, directed OSHA to make changes in its bloodborne pathogens standard intended to reduce needlesticks among healthcare workers.
These revisions clarify the need for employers to select safer needle devices and to involve employees in identifying and selecting the devices.
The updated standard also requires employers to maintain a sharps injury log.
OSHA began enforcing these new provisions of the standard last month.
For more information on the "Sharps Safety and Needlestick Prevention" guide, go to ECRI''s Web site at www.ecri.org.
by Virginia Foran
