Needlestick Injuries Remain a Problem for Hospitals

One problem Hammock sees is that some hospital safety professionals just cut-and-paste their required exposure control plans from OSHA's Web site without instead tweaking them to their hospitals' conditions. That shortcut means facilities haven't fully met OSHA's expectations, he says.

OSHA officials have previously told HealthLeaders Media's sister newsletter, Briefings on Hospital Safety, about the risk of using prefilled syringes for injected medication. Although pharmaceutical companies distribute some drugs in such devices to help nurses administer more precise doses to patients, the prefilled syringes at times are less safe than syringes that can be filled and offer safety controls.