New Book Promises to Take the Sting out of Sharps Safety Device Evaluations.

SOUTH JORDAN, Utah -- Kylee enjoyed the fast pace as a nurse in the Cardiac Cath Lab where she had worked for the last 7 years. She was diligent in following safety procedures, always wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment. She was assisting the cardiologist on an angioplasty procedure on the day that "it" happened.

After placing a cardiac catheter, the cardiologist removed the needle and set it down on the drape; during the procedure the needle slid into a crease in the drape. While cleaning up, Kylee gathered the drape to throw it away when the needle stuck into her left palm, leaving a deep puncture wound. Although the needle had only been in the patient for a few seconds, it would cause a lifetime of concern for Aspen, because the patient had recently tested positive for hepatitis.

Although Jane's name has been changed to protect her identity, her injury, and similar injuries sustained by healthcare, custodial, and waste management workers is real. Approximately six hundred thousand injuries like this occur each year in the Unites States alone. The cost to treat these injuries is incredible -- one worker contracting Hepatitis C or HIV can cost a facility between $500,000 and $1,000,000!

By using safety-engineered products, life threatening events like this can be prevented. Unfortunately, many hospitals are unaware of what infection control products are available. Despite the fact that federal law requires gathering information on the large variety of infection control products (including sharps injury and blood exposure prevention products) it is an on-going and massive task for healthcare facilities.

A new medical reference guide, The Compendium of Infection Control Technologies, has recently become available to assist healthcare workers in gathering this information quickly and easily.

Dr. Joel S. Rossen and Ron Stoker, Executive Director of the International Sharps Injury Prevention Society, have spent much of the past two years compiling The Compendium. Their book was recently introduced at the APIC (Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology) international conference in Baltimore. The guide is a multimedia publication with hard copy (book) and digital (PDF download) editions showcasing hundreds of medical devices which have been designed to reduce exposure to bloodborne pathogens.

The updated OSHA Bloodborne Pathogen Standard mandates that employers with even one single employee at risk for exposure to bloodborne pathogens must have a documented Exposure Control Plan to prevent such occurrences. Their plan must reflect any and all changes in safety technologies; as well as document their evaluation of new safety products. Until now, infection control officers have had no central resource available to identify and locate the devices they are required to consider and evaluate.

To assist medical facility exposure control departments in meeting regulations, this interactive reference source currently contains documentation and pictures of nearly three hundred sharps injury prevention and bloodborne pathogen exposure prevention products. It is organized both by device category and manufacturer to help healthcare workers conveniently find the information they need and includes evaluation forms to document their research. It is linked to a website, www.MedicalSafetyBook.com. As the database grows, and new products become available, users are notified by email of additional safety-engineered products that are required for their report.

Just as the Physicians Desk Reference is the "go-to" book for information on pharmaceuticals, The Compendium of Infection Control Technologies is the resource for safety products that prevent exposure to bloodborne pathogens. The Compendium is an industry-wide cooperative publication. It is being sponsored by Premier Safety Institute, ISIPS, AOHP, NAPPSI, Managing Infection Control magazine, Biomedical Safety Technologies and the Center for Phlebotomy Education, Inc. It has been compiled in cooperation with and is being promoted by nearly one hundred medical device manufacturers.

Acquiring The Compendium completes the first half of the task; gathering information on virtually all sharps safety and blood exposure prevention products. Currently many healthcare facilities are not in compliance with the requirement of reviewing safety technologies because of the extremely time-consuming difficulty of acquiring the necessary product information. Now, with nearly one hundred medical device manufacturers cooperating to keep MedicalSafetyBook.com and The Compendium up-to-date, facilities can not only become current, they can remain current at all times.

Membership in MedicalSafetyBook.com is free with the purchase of The Compendium and members are notified whenever a new device or technology is added. MedicalSafetyBook.com is also a one-stop "safer medical device" sample-procurement website. Quickly and conveniently, infection control professionals can request samples of all the devices they decide to evaluate. Currently priced at $90, The Compendium of Sharps Safety Technologies is a must have for any medical facility.

For more information go to www.medicalsafetybook.com, send an email to [e-mail], or call 801-280-8797.