Management of the Sterile Field II: Sharps safety

Percutaneous Injuries:

potentially preventable

Surgery dept = highest risk of bloodborne disease exposure
through PI

Surgeons: 59% of the injuries

Scrubs: 19%

Most common injuries to CSTs:

passing or disassembling or disposing of sharps

Non-dominant hand:

most common injury site

Most prevalent devices:

hollow-bore needles; suture needles; and scalpel blades.

Sharps designated area

ONLY TWO ALLOWED
• Working end of backtable
• Far end of mayo

Intraop Safety 101

Sharps should be organized in the sharps designated area and should never be
hidden or covered.
Sharps in the needlebook should be neat and separated.
Allows for easy counting with less movement of sharps
The scrub must retrieve needles not in use.
Always use hands free techniques to retrieve needles
NEVER touch used sharps in needlebook with fingers

No pass zone

• AKA neutral zone, safe passing zone, no pass zone, hands-free
• No hand to hand sharps passing
• Designated space marked with towel or basin
• Scrub places sharp in designated zone and removes hand, surgeon picks up
• Surgeon then leave sharp here after use, removes hand, scrub retrieves to
sharps designated area

Hands-free technique

• Remember the hands-free (no-touch, no hands) technique of loading and re-positioning needles
• Sharp instrument passing allows sharp tips to stay away from hands, and
surgeon and scrub hands to avoid collision
• Remain focused, do not get rushed, communicate and visibly follow through whenever sharps are in use.