You are the scrub nurse in the operating room for an open cholecystecomy to remove the gallstones causing the patients pain. The surgery went well, and the surgeon leaves the used scalpel blades in the passing tray after procedures because this is the right thing to do. There is no scalpel blade remover. It is …
Top 3 Negative Impacts from Not Using An Ampoule Opener
1 in 3 healthcare professionals suffer at least one ampoule injury in their lifetime from opening an ampoule. This is quite an alarming number if we take into account that in the US alone, 12 million healthcare employees would mean a whopping 4 million healthcare workers would have sustained an ampoule injury at work. A …
Reports from the Road – CE seminar Death of A Travelling Salesman Safety Education
As I travel around the USA giving talks on sharps safety, I am struck by the changes in perception on sharps injuries. Many of my CE seminar attendees comment that there is not only increased awareness of sharps safety, but also a willingness to be open about past injuries. Two years ago participants in the …
European Sharps Directive To Protect Healthcare Workers
Sharps directive is required to protect healthcare workers. In 2010, the European Council described sharps injuries as one of the most pertinent health and safety threats in European workplaces with an estimated 1 million injuries occurring each year. This startling number shows that sharps injuries in the healthcare industry are far more common than we …
Impact of Medication Errors on Patients, Healthcare Providers and Hospitals
While it could be the result of systemic issues or plain human error, medication errors can cause severe physical injury and possible death to patients. These preventable mistakes could also cause severe financial, psychological, and emotional stress to the healthcare provider and organisation. In this blog post, we look at some of the negative consequences …
Top 3 Reasons Why Nurses And Surgeons Avoid Safety Scalpels
During a recent visit to North America I had the opportunity to meet and talk with a large number of operating room nurses about their thoughts on safety scalpels. For some reason this slightly controversial topic seemed to elicit a range of amusing facial expressions. Delving a little deeper it became quite evident that the …