Report: low staffing levels raise chances for needlestick injuries. (Blood Bank).

Needlestick injuries in hospital nurses increase dramatically when nurse staffing levels are low, University of Pennsylvania researchers conclude in the June 2002 issue of the American Journal of Infection Control. Current research indicates that patient outcomes suffer when nurse staffing levels fall; however, this is one of the first studies linking on-the-job injuries in hospital nurses with heavier workloads. Injuries with used needles and other sharps put healthcare workers at risk for serious bloodborne infections such as HIV and Hepatitis C. The study, conducted in 22 U.S. hospitals, all with reputations for excellence, found that poor working conditions and high workloads were associated with 50 percent to 200 percent increases in needlestick injuries and "near-misses."

The report went on to say that hospital cost-cutting might have a double-edged effect on injuries. "Nurses potentially unfamiliar with safe use of sharps were often forced to become proficient while their workloads were increasing in other ways. Nurses in our study who took on routine blood draws or intravenous insertions as a new task in the previous year were almost twice as likely to sustain injuries." said Sean Clarke, PhD, RN, associate director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, which conducted the survey of 2.278 nurses.