Nurses to ask lawmakers to defend against needles

Tuesday, June 13, 2000 | 10:22 a.m.

The proposal would require hospitals to create an in-house committee to select and routinely test available safety devices and report all needle stick incidents to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

"Its a significant workers safety issue," said Cynthia Bunch, legislative coordinator for the Nevada Nursing Association. "There will always be certain procedures that require a needle, but we're looking for ways to minimize the exposure and the needle stick rate itself."

The National Centers for Disease Control estimates 80 percent of the 600,000 accidental needle wounds that occur each year could be prevented with the regular use of safe needle devices.

Former Reno nurse Lisa Black was infected with HIV and hepatitis C in 1997 after being stuck while caring for a terminally ill patient. Black went through the treatment of taking drugs to keep her from contracting either of the two deadly viruses, but nine months later she tested positive for both.

"You hear about people getting stuck every day but not of people getting infected. No one thinks it will ever happen to them," she said.

The CDC has documented more than 50 cases of health care workers infected with HIV by a needle stick. More of a concern is hepatitis, particularly hepatitis C which can lay dormant for 10 to 20 years after a person is infected. The disease has no cure is very expensive to treat.

Although federal regulations recommend the use of technology to reduce the number of needles in procedures and the risk of exposure, there is no mandate. A federal bill was introduced last year but has not been approved.

Needle-less technology has been around for more than 20 years and Nevada hospitals employ some of the equipment. However, nurses in the field say it isn't available in all units and is routinely out of stock, Bunch said.

"Most hospitals have the needle-less IV connectors for a second line, but they tend to run out on a regular basis," Bunch said. "Most hospitals do not provide safe devices like a retractable needle to draw blood or start an IV and that's where a significant portion of the needle sticks occur."

Bill Welch, lobbyist for the Nevada Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, agreed needle-less systems are not routinely used in Nevada hospitals.

Association members, he said, are willing to work with the bill's authors but fear state intervention in dictating what tools are used in patient care.

"There's nothing out there that's going to prevent needle sticks. This legislation may reduce the number of incidents," Welch said.

"The hospital industry is very regulated and at some point we've got to say we've got enough laws. Let's look at what we have and see how we can tweak it before we add more."