‘Santa Says…Stay Sharp Be Safe’ Campaign Launched in Indian Hospitals
In an effort to ensure safety of healthcare workers, BD Medical has launched the ‘Santa Says…Stay Sharp Be Safe’ campaign across hospitals in the country.
The campaign will run through December 20-31 to spread awareness of healthcare worker safety across hospitals such as Medanta, Gangaram, Artemis, Columbia Asia, Apollo, PSRI, ESI, BLKapur to name a few in Delhi.
“Injuries from blood-filled needles is the major reason because of which healthcare workers become vulnerable to blood borne pathogens and life-threatening diseases. Needles are mostly used in performing high-risk procedures like drawing blood, intravascular catheterisation etc. The good news is that majority of the infections through needle stick injuries are
preventable,” says Dr Deepak Singla, Medical Director, Maharaja Agrasen Hospital, NABH Assessor (QCI), JCI Accreditation Coordinator, New Delhi.
“Programmes like this one from (BD) like Santa Says… Stay Sharp, Be Safe campaign focusing on education and training of healthcare workers pertaining to needle stick injury prevention and use of safety engineered devices can go a long way in
bringing down the incidence of infections,” Dr Singla adds.
According to a study, India contributes to 30% of the 16 billion injections administered worldwide. Sadly, of these, 63% are estimated to be unsafe due to improper sterilisation, reuse or faulty administration, making them a leading cause of infection to healthcare workers.
There have been epidemics of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C in many parts of the country due attributable to reuse of syringes and needles. Additionally, needle prick injuries is a prominent occupational hazard and has the prevalence ranging from 10% to 50% in the studied population. WHO has observed that there were 3 million accidental NSIs leading to 37% of all new HBV cases, 39% of new HCV cases and 5.5% of new HIV cases.
Realising the occupational hazards faced by workers in a healthcare setup, BD had initiated this campaign last year. This year, the campaign focuses on the issues faced by healthcare workers – needle stick injuries including exposure to bloodborne pathogens such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis, being the most highest of all.
A study undertaken in AIIMS Trauma centre in 2014 showed about 36% of doctors, 14.6% of nurses and 7% of housekeeping staff had accidental needle stick injuries.
Moreover, a policy guidance released by the WHO in February 2015 highlighted needle-stick injury as one of the major issues and have advocated for the use of Sharps Injury Protection (SIP) devices.
This policy also provides guidance to key stakeholders that play a critical role in the adoption and implementation of safe injection practices, i.e., in endorsing the policy, manufacturing the devices, ensuring their procurement and distribution at the country level, promoting their correct use by healthcare providers and their evaluation in terms of safety and effectiveness.
“Backed by 120 years of tradition and heritage in safety, BD brings an expertise in manufacturing high quality safety-engineered medical devices that is unrivaled. With ‘Santa says..Stay Sharp Be Safe’ campaign across hospitals this festive season, we would seek to advance the right spirit of education and training on infection prevention and control, including needlestick and sharps safety, use of safety-engineered devices for better clinical practices and also enhance our engagement to protect healthcare workers from sharps injuries in the country.
BD’s portfolio of safety devices for blood collection, injection, infusion, and sharps collection helps ensure patient safety and healthcare provider protection from the risks associated with unsafe practices,” says Mr Vishal Taneja, Business Director-BD Medical, BD in India.
