December is International Sharps Injury Prevention Month, so I thought I would very quickly talk about sharps safety. Sharps refers to “devices with sharp points or edges that can puncture or cut skin. Sharps may be used at home, at work, and while traveling to manage the medical conditions of people or their pets” (SafeNeedleDisposal.Org). In this case, we are talking about needles and needlestick injury hazards. We do not give medical care. However, a lot of our clients may have injections that they do on themselves and so they have sharps. This is going to apply to anyone who has sharps in their home, and anyone who is going into the home of someone who has sharps.
Safe Containers
If you have needles in your home, you should have a container to put the sharps in, but sometimes people also use things like water bottles as “unofficial” sharps containers. If you are not using a container with a proper label on it, please try to make a label. This way, others know there are sharps in that container. And you need to have a dedicated container for your sharps.
Once Something Goes In, It’s In
Be very careful that everyone knows that nothing ever comes out of the sharps container, so they shouldn’t put anything in the sharps container that is not a sharp. It is unsafe to put your hand in and pull anything out of the container.
Get Seen Immediately
If you do sustain a needlestick, you need to go get seen immediately. They need to evaluate you and your risk of being infected by infected blood. This is a very serious situation.
Thank you for reading and see you tomorrow!
Written by Brigid Stakelum
