The healthcare professional treating you will assess the risks to your health and ask about your injury – for example, how and when it happened, or who had used the needle.

Publishing facility-wide sharps injury statistics regularly and making the data transparent to all staff Surveillance programs that provide in-depth analysis of accidents are an important tool for obtaining information. The goals of these programs should include: The poster templates are embedded in a series of PowerPoint slides. A basic knowledge of Microsoft Office is needed to extract the files and print them. Posters can be printed using standard desktop printers. Modifying images, text, and data In a small GP practice, generic assessments may be suitable for the small numbers of staff and activities undertaken. Wash the wound using running water and plenty of soap. Leave under running water for a minimum of 10 minutes, ideally 20 minutes.

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Seek urgent medical advice (for example from your occupational health service) as effective prophylaxis (medicines to help fight infection) are available Give tetanus vaccine (DTPa or ADT depending on child’s age) and tetanus immunoglobulin. Access via Transfusion Management Unit (Blood Bank) Ext 34015 (from PCH) or 6383 4015 (for urgent requests) You should have appropriate arrangements and procedures in place for the safe disposal of clinical waste, including sharps.

Take baseline serology (hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV). This requires informed verbal consent from parent. Point of use disposal of sharps is encouraged by ensuring adequate placement of sharps containers in areas where sharps are generated gauge needles for injection of medication into infusion bags and blood collection (only if necessary)If the risk cannot be prevented, then the risk of an injury must be adequately controlled. There is a general hierarchy of controls that needs to be considered as follows: Note also that because the hepatitis B virus may survive on environmental surfaces for more than a week, indirect exposure can occur via contaminated inanimate objects. Training should be a key part of your approach to managing the risk of sharps injuries. You have a responsibility to provide suitable and sufficient information, instruction and training. As a minimum, the training should cover: European Biosafety Network - Toolkit for implementation of European Directive on Prevention from Sharps Injuries