FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 19, 2000

CONTACT:
Hope Hall, 202-651-7027
Michelle Nawar, 202-651-7122
rn=realnews@ana.org
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Washington, D.C. -- The technology exists to protect registered nurses and other health care workers from deadly needlestick injuries, yet less than 15 percent of U.S. hospitals use safe needle devices--putting health care workers at risk for contracting life-threatening infections such as HIV and hepatitis C. To eliminate this unnecessary threat to health care workers, ANA will urge congress to pass needlestick and sharps injury prevention legislation.

Health care workers sustain 600,000 needlestick and sharps injuries every year–resulting in up to almost 1,000 new cases of health care workers with HIV, hepatitis C, or hepatitis B due to occupational injury. While the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a compliance directive that provides instructions to OSHA inspectors to cite employers for failing to evaluate, purchase, and implement safer needles and sharps devices, legislation is needed to fight this silent epidemic. ANA will testify at the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections hearing on the OSHA compliance directive on June 22. The hearing will take place at the Rayburn House Office Building, Rm-346, 10:30 a.m.

Karen Daley, MPH, RN, Massachusetts Nurses Association president, contracted HIV and hepatitis C from a needlestick injury, and will testify on behalf of the ANA. "This injury and the life-altering consequences I am now suffering should not have happened," stated Daley. "And worst of all, this injury did not have to happen and would not have happened if a safer system had been in place in my work setting."

Federal legislation would require all health care facilities to use needleless systems and sharps with engineered protections--like retractable needles. With these devices, it is estimated that more than 80 percent of these injuries could be prevented. "It is unconscionable that there are safety devices available, yet they're not being provided to health care workers," stated ANA President Mary E. Foley, MS, RN. "Registered nurses are committed to caring for their patients, yet they face the risk of potentially lethal needlesticks every day. ANA is committed to fighting this epidemic on behalf of all 2.6 million registered nurses and other health care workers."

Legislation is needed to cover public sector employees who are not covered by OSHA and to require employers to:

• involve frontline health care workers in identifying and evaluating safe needle devices;
• provide training to frontline health care workers on proper use of the safe devices; and,
• ensure that all needlestick and sharps injuries be reported to OSHA.

Many hospitals choose not to use the available technology that could save lives because the safe needle devices can be more expensive than standard devices. Safe needle devices cost only 28 cents more than standard devices. However, the cost of not using these safe devices is much higher. Any increase in cost is minimal compared to the overwhelming expenses and tragic losses that occur when less expensive devices are used.

When a nurse is stuck but no infection occurs, the average cost is $3,000. When an infection occurs, the costs rise up to $1 million or more. In California, hospitals and health care employers are expected to save over $100 million per year implementing the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration's requirement for safe needle devices. These costs do not even begin to include the emotional trauma RNs and their families face when they learn they contracted HIV and or hepatitis C from an occupational needlestick injury. "I can't describe how that single moment has drastically changed my life," stated Daley. Daley no longer provides direct patient care--she quit working at the hospital where she worked for more than 20 years. Daley takes 21 pills each day and is now truly a "patient," yet she works tirelessly for needlestick prevention and hepatitis C education campaigns for nurses.

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The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.6 million Registered Nurses through its 54 constituent associations. ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

2000 press releases

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