Evaluation of interventions to prevent needlestick injuries in health care occupations

The objective of this study was to evaluate interventions that reduce or prevent needlestick injuries in health care occupations.

Cochrane Collaboration search strategies to locate studies that evaluated interventions to reduce needlestick injuries in health care occupations were used. Studies were selected if they met the following criteria: (1) interventions were evaluated in the defined population; (2) interventions were randomized, with a comparison group(s); (3) outcomes were objectively measured and had interpretable data. Eleven studies met inclusion criteria. The main outcomes of interest were changes in the number of glove or skin perforations and changes in amount of skin contamination.

Three studies found a decrease in glove or skin perforations when double gloves or combinations of gloves were used by surgeons and their assistants. One study found an increase in glove perforations but a decrease in hand contamination. Three studies evaluated the effectiveness of specialized needles in reducing needlestick injuries during surgical wound closure with decreases in glove or skin perforations reported. Protective devices were evaluated in three studies and significant reductions in glove perforations were found with the use of a needleless intravenous system and surgical assist device. One study evaluated a "no-touch" technique used by surgeons during wound closure and found a significant decrease in the number of glove perforations compared to the traditional "hand-in" method of closure.

Few randomized controlled trials have been employed to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to reduce needlestick injuries in health care occupations. The majority of the studies evaluated interventions during surgical procedures, rather than during patient care on nursing units, probably because the latter is more difficult to observe.