By Ten years ago, the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act was signed into the law. The act, which requires employers to track sharps injuries and to provide safer sharps devices, including self-covering needles, was designed to protect the well-being of healthcare workers who routinely face danger from potentially contaminated sharps.
The president of the American Nurses Association, Karen Daley, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN, suffered a life-changing sharps injury. She shares her story here as a reminder of the important of sharps safety, and as a call to nurses to insist on their rights under the law. Sharps injuries still injure between 600,000 and 800,000 healthcare workers a year, with nurses sustaining the brunt of the damage.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UATLtR_27YE[/youtube]
Have you ever suffered a sharps injury? Share your story here.
