Safer Sharps Series
SMTL have performed a review of the literature covering different elements of the Safer Sharps issues. Some of these documents are available for download below or are linked to elsewhere on medidex.
- "The prevalence of sharps injuries" - April 2004 (PDF). This report aims to review the data available on needlestick injury throughout the UK and elsewhere.
- The economics of using sharp safety-engineered devices. A summary of the economic considerations of introducing 'sharp safety' devices into the work place and an attempt to demonstrate how the costs of these changes can be calculated.
- Safety engineered scalpels and suture needles.
Nursing Standard Series
Dr Joanna Ford and Pete Phillips have also had three safer sharps evaluation papers published in the Nursing Standard:
- An evaluation of sharp safety hypodermic needle devices.·Ford and Phillips,·Nursing Standard 25 (35) 39-44,·2011. (PDF available)
- An evaluation of sharp safety blood evacuation devices.·Ford and Phillips,·Nursing Standard 25 (43) 41-47,·2011. (PDF available)
- An evaluation of sharp safety intravenous cannula devices. Ford and Phillips, Nursing Standard 26 (15-17):42-49, 2011.
The papers cover the user evaluations of a range of medical devices designed to prevent needle-stick injury by Welsh NHS staff.
Other useful documents
The Health & Safety Executive have published their long-awaited systematic review into the efficacy of safer sharps devices:
- An evaluation of the efficacy·of safer sharps devices. ·Systematic review.·Prepared by the Health and Safety Laboratory·for the Health and Safety Executive 2012. (P. Phillips was a member of the literature assessment group).