ECRI to release Sharps Safety and Needlestick Prevention guide
ECRI (www.ecri.org) today announced the upcoming availability of Sharps Safety and Needlestick Prevention, a comprehensive new guide for evaluating and selecting protective devices. This all-inclusive resource, which will be available this fall, updates and expands on the heavily relied on 2000 edition of ECRI's Health Devices Needlestick-Prevention Device Selection Guide. These guides, developed by ECRI's Health Devices Group, are the only publications to provide critical judgment about, and objective ratings for, needlestick-prevention devices (NPDs) and other sharps safety technologies.
Sharps Safety and Needlestick Prevention features comparative evaluations, including brand-name ratings, for more than 60 currently available "safety" devices in 13 different product groups. This new guide covers most of the protective products on the market and includes never-before published evaluations of 34 new devices. In addition to updated evaluations of NPDs and IV therapy devices, the new guide includes first-time evaluations of safety scalpels, blunted sutures, arterial blood gas syringes, and protective lancets.
Each evaluation contains supplier and cost information, a product description, and the results of ECRI's testing and its unbiased, independent analyses. This must-have guide also includes new information on federal legislation and updated selection and user guidance to help healthcare facilities comply with safer needle regulations—and provide a safer environment for their employees. Also included is information on how to hold down costs when purchasing NPDs, as well as a cost analysis worksheet.
ECRI's Sharps Safety and Needlestick Prevention guide provides all of the information healthcare providers need to implement the requirements of the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act, which was signed into law in November 2000. This Act directed the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) to make changes in its bloodborne pathogens standard intended to reduce needlesticks among healthcare workers. These revisions clarify the need for employers to select safer needle devices and to involve employees in identifying and choosing the devices. The updated standard also requires employers to maintain a sharps injury log. OSHA began enforcing these new provisions of the standard on July 18, 2001.
Before October 31, 2001, ECRI's Sharps Safety and Needlestick Prevention guide can be purchased for the introductory price of $149 for members of ECRI's Health Devices, Healthcare Risk Control (HRC), and SELECTplus Systems, and $249 for nonmembers. Beginning November 1, 2001, the cost will be $195 for members and $295 for nonmembers.
ECRI has been providing information and technical assistance to the healthcare community to support safe and cost-effective patient care for more than 30 years. Known throughout the industry for its unparalleled information services, level of expertise, and integrity, ECRI is a nonprofit, international health services research agency and a Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization. ECRI has absolutely no ties, financial or otherwise, to medical device manufacturers or distributors, ensuring complete objectivity and impartiality.
To order Sharps Safety and Needlestick Prevention, or for more information, contact ECRI at 5200 Butler Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462-1298, USA; telephone +1 (610) 825-6000, ext. 5888; e-mail communications@ecri.org; or fax +1 (610) 834-1275. ECRI's European office can be contacted at info@ecri.org.uk; ECRI's Malaysian office can be contacted at s.e.asia@ecri.org; and ECRI's Middle Eastern office can be contacted at middleeast@ecri.org.