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Healthcare worker safety describes the prevention of infections of healthcare workers with pathogens due to their exposure to blood and other body fluids. |
Ana Salegui (Spanish Nurses Association): "No more needlestick injuries!"
"It happened after I finished collecting blood from a patient. I really thought I was going to die. This is not an isolated case. I was infected with the blood. That patient died six hours later. I knew she was HIV positive. It was necessary to wait for the test results. It was a period full of stigmatization, discrimination. I am the voice of many people who can no longer speak. I am the voice of many colleagues, many people who are hidden. Behind each accident, behind each needlestick injury there is a whole case of a family who suffers the consequences. I am living proof that talks for all those people who day-after-day know there is a high safety material and they know they can avoid these tragedies to happen again."
Facts & figures about healthcare worker safety
Healthcare workers are exposed to blood and other body fluids at their work due to:
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Needlestick and other sharp injuries;
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Body fluids entering the eyes, nose or mouth;
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Blood contact with non-intact skin.
The WHO estimates that approximately 35 million healthcare workers are exposed to bloodborne pathogens each year, among those 170,000 to HIV.
The most common form of exposure to blood is needlestick injuries. More than 20 dangerous bloodborne pathogens can be transmitted by contaminated needlesticks, including hepatitis B and C, and HIV. When suffering from a contaminated needlestick injury, the risk of the transmission of hepatitis B is 1 in 3 workers, 1 in 30 for hepatitis C, and 1 in 300 for HIV.
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The European Parliament estimates that there are more than 1 million needlestick injuries to healthcare workers each year in Europe;
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Globally, 2.5% of HIV infections and 40% of hepatitis B and C infections among healthcare workers are caused by needlestick injuries.
How can needlestick injuries be prevented?
Most needlestick injuries are preventable through:
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Safety education;
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Safer working practices;
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Immunisation of healthcare workers.
In addition, the use of medical devices incorporating needle protection technology prevents needlestick injuries. These devices include:
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Medical devices with automatic shielding, retraction or blunting feature;
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Medical devices which include a needle shielding, retraction or blunting feature that is manually operated;
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Medical devices with shielding cutting blades;
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Needle-free systems for certain application.
- HFE Letter to the European Commission's DG SANCO on strategies for improving safety by prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections (January 2006) - Click here to download the letter
- HFE Sharps' Day
- MEP Stephen Hughes (PES, UK) own-initiative report on "Protecting European Healthcare - Workers from Bloodborne Infections due to Needlestick Injuries" (adopted in 2006):
Click here to download this document - WHO - Avian Influenza, Including Influenza A (H5N1), in Humans: WHO Interim Infection Control Guideline for Health Care Facilities (2006):
Click here to download this document - World Health Organisation (WHO) AIDE-MEMOIRE for a strategy to protect health workers from infection with bloodborne viruses:
Click here to download this document - Joint ILO/WHO guidelines on health services and HIV/AIDS (2005):
Click here to download this document
For more information, please visit:
- European Federation of Nurses Association (EFN):
http://www.efnweb.org/version1/en/index.html - European Federation of public services employees - Eurofedop:
http://www.eurofedop.org/ - Eurogip:
http://www.eurogip.fr/fr/index.htm
