A 'point' of view--one hospital's experience in the safe handling and disposal of sharps.

Needlesticks had long been a problem at the author's hospital. When the implementation of an in-room sharps disposal system (sharps containers in all patient rooms with the exception of pediatrics, psychiatry and long term care units) did not significantly reduce the numbers of needlesticks, a review of needlestick incident reports pre- and post implementation of the sharps program was conducted. Interestingly enough, recapping was still taking place in spite of education, and the rationale given by most staff was that in certain situations it was safer to recap than not. Second, a review of incidents showed that in both pre- and post implementation data, there were no reported needlesticks to laboratory personnel performing phlebotomy. The reason--the 'safety paddle'. Could a device proven successful in the elimination of needlesticks to laboratory staff be used by other staff to reduce needlesticks throughout the hospital?