Healthcare workers face daily risks handling medical needles and other dangerous sharps. However, the market now offers various innovative products to better protect staff from these occupational hazards while improving overall healthcare safety.
Explore these seven inventive items advancing sharps safety.
Retractable Syringes
Using spring or manual mechanisms, these devices draw medication out and retract needles safely inside plastic chambers. Workers avoid exposed needles before disposing in secured containers.
Needle Incineration Tools
These wand devices conveniently incinerate used sharps onsite to reduce handling and offsite shipping/treatment. Some models feature sensors that only activate when needles are inserted fully inside for staff safety.
Robotic Needle Sorters
Automated systems help central supply departments efficiently test, inventory, sort and restock specialty syringes. Automating these workflows enhances speed and accuracy while reducing staff needlestick risks.
Smart Inventory Systems
Some apps track medications, syringes and other sharps in real time via barcode scans and RFID tags. This insight minimizes unnecessary inventory overstocking when actual usage rates are visible. Overstocked sharps raise risks.
Needle Recapping Tools
Assist devices provide a safe, hands-free solution for recapping needles where procedures mandate. Magnets grab caps to place precisely over needles, eliminating dangerous manual manipulation.
Advanced Puncture-Proof Gloves
Look for durable nitrile gloves that protect against punctures six times better than latex and vinyl options. Cuts most often occur on hands, so breakthrough protection here proves vital.
Syringe and Scalpel Lock Packs
Sharps device cases utilize special trays preventing usage until safely unlocked at points of care. This minimizes the chances of unsafe sharps wandering around patient care units. RFID tags track these packs closely to control access and assign responsibility. Advanced versions also have built-in needle incineration capabilities for secure sharps disposal immediately after single-use without transportation risks.
Cultivating a safety culture around sharps requires staying on top of the latest aids. Implementing combinations of these inventive products better protects healthcare teams daily.