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Blood-borne pathogen exposure (BBPE) represents a significant safety and resource burden, with more than 380,000 events reported annually across hospitals in the United States” Gurria et al (2019).

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Blood-borne pathogen exposure (BBPE) represents a significant safety and resource burden, with more than 380,000 events reported annually across hospitals in the United States. The perioperative environment is a high-risk area for BBPE, and efforts to reduce exposures are not well defined. A multidisciplinary group of nurses, surgical technologists, surgeons, and employee health specialists created a BBPE prevention bundle to reduce Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable cases.

METHODS: Mandatory double gloving, a safety zone, engineered-sharps injury prevention devices, and clear communication when passing sharps were implemented in an evidence-based fashion at one institution. Days between exposures and total number of exposures were monitored. Analysis by specialty, role, location, type of injury, and timing was performed.

RESULTS: During fiscal year (FY) 2015, 45 cases were reported. During the first year of implementation, cases decreased to 38 (a 15.6% decrease; p < 0.65). In the postimplementation period (FY 2017), only 21 cases were reported (an additional 44.7% decrease; p < 0.12), for a total decrease of 53.3% (p < 0.01). The mean number of days between injuries significantly increased (2.5 to 16.3) over the study period. For FY 2017, the main cause of BBPE was needlestick while suturing (47.6%); fellows and attendings combined had the most injuries (52.4%); among divisions, pediatric surgery (19.0%), operating room staff (19.0%), and orthopedics (19.0%) had the most events. CONCLUSION: A comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to employee safety, focused on reduction of BBPE resulted in a significant progressive annual decrease of injuries among perioperative staff.

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Reference:

Gurria, J.P., Nolan, H., Polites, S., Threlkeld, M., Arata, K., Phipps, L., Muth, A. and Falcone, R.A. Jr. (2019) Don’t Get Stuck: A Quality Improvement Project to Reduce Perioperative Blood-Borne Pathogen Exposure. Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety. February 4th. [epub ahead of print].

doi: 10.1016/j.jcjq.2018.12.002.