Sharps Disposal SOP's

RE: Sharps Disposal SOP's

Catriona MacIntyre — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 11:11:00 GMT

Yup! sharps buckets within easy reach

RE: Sharps Disposal SOP's

Rob Loxley — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 10:13:06 GMT

[quote user="Catriona MacIntyre"]We had unsheathed, used needles left out in work surfaces in consulting rooms, kennels, and operating room, and used glass slides (broken ones on 2 occasions) left on the work bench at the microscope[/quote]

Do you provide sharps disposal containers at these locations? If so I too would be upset about sharps lying around. We're not militantly 'anti-re-sheath', but I have seen insulin needles put through caps on insulin syringes many times (the plastic is softer and thinner).

RE: Sharps Disposal SOP's

Catriona MacIntyre — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 20:13:47 GMT

Thanks folks. I agree that a blanket "do not re-sheath"policy is not always practical or sensible in practice, especially mixed or large animal practice

We had unsheathed, used needles left out in work surfaces in consulting rooms, kennels, and operating room, and used glass slides (broken ones on 2 occasions) left on the work bench at the microscope.

I printed out the waste disposal poster from the BVA website, and have sent it to every member of staff, along with a letter explaining employer responsibilities, and the responsibilities of individual employees under the Health & Safety Act. Might seem a little heavy handed, but "quiet words" etc have fallen in deaf ears.

RE: Sharps Disposal SOP's

Michael Woodhouse — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 19:30:50 GMT

The NHS stuff can be adapted to small animal practice at a push, but won't work when large animals are involved, IMO. We have sharps bins in all the cars and even in some of the kit boxes (like the caeser kit), but there is often nowhere to put one, so recapping needles or taking the kits back to the surgery with the sharps in situ is safer.

The girls doing kits are taught to assume there are sharps and check first. I don't have an issue with carefully recapping needles. The 'risk' from a needlestick from a needle used in veterinary medicine is vastly lower than that used on another human. The majority of the needlesticks I've ever had have been doing caesareans with other vets - I really hope none of them have anything nasty bloodbourne!

Catriona, can you be any more specific re your incidents?

RE: Sharps Disposal SOP's

Rob Loxley — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 13:43:34 GMT

Googling NHS sharps disposal policy will bring you up lots of freely available resources to look at