One needle, one syringe, only one time? A survey of physician and nurse knowledge, attitudes, and practices around injection safety

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

9-1-2017

Journal

American Journal of Infection Control

Volume

45

Issue

9

DOI

10.1016/j.ajic.2017.04.292

Keywords

Evaluation; Health care personnel education; Infection control; Injection safety; Safe injection practices

Abstract

© 2017 Background To inform development, targeting, and penetration of materials from a national injection safety campaign, an evaluation was conducted to assess provider knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to unsafe injection practices. Methods A panel of physicians (n = 370) and nurses (n = 320) were recruited from 8 states to complete an online survey. Questions, using 5-point Likert and Spector scales, addressed acceptability and frequency of unsafe practices (eg, reuse of a syringe on >1 patient). Results were stratified to identify differences among physician specialties and nurse practice locations. Results Unsafe injection practices were reported by both physicians and nurses across all surveyed physician specialties and nurse practice locations. Twelve percent (12.4%) of physicians and 3% of nurses indicated reuse of syringes for >1 patient occurs in their workplace; nearly 5% of physicians indicated this practice usually or always occurs. A higher proportion of oncologists reported unsafe practices occurring in their workplace. Conclusions There is a dangerous minority of providers violating basic standards of care; practice patterns may vary by provider group and specialty. More research is needed to understand how best to identify providers placing patients at risk of infection and modify their behaviors.

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