[Primary treatment of contaminated syringes and needles in a ward]

Body fluid transmitted viruses become the major enemies of human health. These viruses have been reported as occupational hazards for health care personnel, and they may become environmental hazards as well. We conducted this study to examine the primary treatment of used syringes and needles in a ward, and to evaluate the effects of re-education. For questions such as "The used syringes with bloody contamination should isolated from those without" and "The cover of used needles should not be put back on", we recorded error rates during the 1st one-week observation. A lecture about the standard treatment methods of discarding instruments was given to all nurses in this ward after the 1st observation. The 2nd and 3rd one-week observations were repeated one day and one month after the lecture, respectively. The misclassification rates of discarded syringes were 4.4% (33/758), 1.4% (9/661) and 3.9% (18/616). There was a significant decrease between the 1st and 2nd observations (p less than 0.05), but no significant difference between the 1st and 3rd observations (p greater than 0.05). The rates of covered discarded needles were 50.4% (287/569), 44.3% (198/447) and 38.5% (269/699), respectively. These rates showed a trend to decrease (p less than 0.05). The misclassification rates of discarded syringes were low. Although re-education achieved only temporary effects, self-protective education on not re-covering used needles was effective. However, about 40% of all discarded syringes were still being covered after use. Based on our finding, some improvements have been made in this ward.