One Needle, One Syringe, Only One Time

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One Needle, One Syringe, Only One Time

05/26/2010

To help healthcare workers improve patient safety, the Safe Injection Practices

Coalition (SIPC) is launching a new educational video for U.S. healthcare

providers that is a straight-to-the-point, 10-minute lesson on safe injection

practices.

The video is targeted to healthcare providers who regularly administer or

supervise injections and is about their responsibility to protect patients from

healthcare-associated infections. The video is based on evidence-based and

common sense safe injection practices from the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC). Recent outbreaks and patient notifications show the need for

continued training about unsafe injection practices.

The 10-minute video promotes safe injection practices by showing healthcare

providers working in situations where injections are given. By dispelling common

misperceptions, such as the belief that it is safe to administer medication from

single-dose vials to multiple patients, the video discusses basic,

evidence-based precautions, that must be used at all times to protect patients

and prevent disease transmission due to unsafe injection practices.

" One infection due to unsafe injection practices is unacceptable, " says Dr.

Bell, deputy director for infection control at CDC and narrator of the

video. " Every healthcare provider has the responsibility to ensure that all

injections given to patients are safe, and we hope that this video will help

make that happen. "

Dr. McKnight, Au.D., president and co-founder of the Hepatitis Outbreaks

National Organization for Reform (HONOReform) Foundation, and a SIPC member who

is featured in the video, was battling a recurrence of breast cancer when she

became one of 99 Nebraska cancer patients to be infected with hepatitis C virus

because her healthcare providers reused syringes to access a shared bag of

saline.

" By addressing the urgent need for education and heightened awareness about safe

injection practices, we hope to avoid further tragedies, " says McKnight.

" Through this and other Coalition-led educational activities, we hope to make

outbreaks due to syringe reuse 'never' events. No patient should ever have to

worry about contracting a disease while seeking medical care or treatment. "

The video is part of the One & Only Campaign, a national public health education

and awareness initiative developed by the SIPC. SIPC is comprised of patient

advocacy organizations, foundations, provider associations and industry

partners, together with CDC, and has united to halt disease transmission caused

by unsafe injection practices in United States healthcare facilities. The

campaign name refers to the importance of healthcare personnel using " one

needle, one syringe, only one time " to protect patients from bloodborne viruses

and other pathogens.

Since 1999, more than 125,000 Americans have received letters alerting them of

potential exposure to infection with hepatitis viruses or human immunodeficiency

virus (HIV) due to unsafe injection practices such as the reuse of syringes,

according to CDC.

A lack of understanding of and adherence to safe injection practices by

healthcare personnel has resulted in more than 30 outbreaks of viral hepatitis

and other healthcare-associated infections in the United States since 1999. Most

of these outbreaks and infections occurred in non-hospital healthcare

facilities, according to CDC. A patient notification resulting from unsafe

injection practices at an endoscopy clinic in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2008 required

health officials to alert more than 50,000 patients who had been potentially

exposed to bloodborne viruses.

In addition to the toll on physical and emotional health, these outbreaks are

costly. The patient notification, response and testing of the hepatitis C

outbreak at the Las Vegas, Nevada endoscopy clinic is estimated to have cost

between $16 million and $21 million.

The video can be viewed at the One & Only Campaign Web site,

www.oneandonlycampaign.org.

Founded in June 2008, the Safe Injection Practices Coalition is comprised of

patient advocacy organizations, foundations, provider associations, industry

partners and CDC, and united to halt unsafe injection practices. The Coalition

focuses its efforts on advancing and promoting safe injection practices by

informing and educating healthcare professionals and the public, especially in

outpatient settings. Issues of particular concern include the reuse of syringes

and misuse of single-use and multi-dose vials. In addition to creating and

distributing the Safe Injection Practices Video for Healthcare Providers, the

Coalition has launched pilot campaigns promoting safe injection practices in

Nevada and New York, two states in which disease outbreaks have occurred.

Coalition partners include the following organizations: Accreditation

Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC), Ambulatory Surgery Foundation,

American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA), Association for

Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (APIC), BD (Becton,

Dickinson and Company), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), CDC

Foundation, Covidien, Hospira, HONOReform Foundation, National Association of

County & City Health Officials (NACCHO), Nebraska Medical Association (NMA),

Nevada State Medical Association (NSMA), and Premier healthcare alliance.

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