2017 Volume 32 Issue 1 Pages 6-12
This study aimed to analyze needlestick and sharps injuries occurring inside and outside patient rooms and to thereby identify high-risk equipment and clarify the situations of case occurrences. We requested 118 institutions participating in the Japan-EPINet Surveillance to provide recorded data on all cases of needlestick and sharps injuries that occurred between April 2013 and March 2015 in each institution. Data from 6,201 cases were collected from 87 institutions. In total, 1698 cases of needlestick and sharps injuries occurring inside patient rooms and 593 occurring outside patient rooms were reported. The type of device most frequently causing such injuries was the disposable syringe needle (inside patient rooms, 30.6%; outside patient rooms, 35.9%), followed by winged needles (inside patient rooms), and pre-filled cartridge syringes (outside patient rooms). The most frequent case occurrence situation was "during use of the item on the patient" inside patient rooms and "while disassembling the device or equipment" outside patient rooms. The most common case occurrence situation inside patient rooms by device type was "while recapping the used needle" (23.9%) for disposable syringe needles, "during use of the item" (48.4%) for winged needles, "while disassembling the device or equipment" (21.9%) for pre-filled cartridge syringes, and "during use of the item" (30.2% and 35.4%, respectively) for IV catheter stylets and vacuum tube blood collection needles. The most common case occurrence situation outside patient rooms by device type was "before use of the item on the patient" (21.6%) for disposable syringe needles, "while disassembling the device or equipment" (27.2%) for pre-filled cartridge syringes, and "while placing the item in a disposable container" (24.4% and 29.4%, respectively) for IV catheter stylets and vacuum tube blood collection needles. The types of device liable to cause needlestick and sharps injuries and the case occurrence situations varied between injuries inside patient rooms and those outside patient rooms. Needlestick and sharps injuries may be decreased by taking advantage of these characteristics.
