REPORT ON RISK MANAGEMENT

A Report on Strategies to Reduce the Risk of Inoculation Injuries



Report on Strategies to Reduce the Risk of Inoculation Injuries

1 Introduction

Inoculation injury occurs when a substance or object that comes in contact with eyes, mouth skin subcutaneous or mucocutaneous, infected with blood or other body fluids comes into contact with the skin. They are caused by the needles or sharp devices in the hospitals, are also termed as needle stick injuries or sharp injuries

The needles are hollow bore needles, suture needles etc. sharp devices include scalpels etc which are used during surgeries. Health care workers at the hospital are at greater risk of acquiring such inoculation injuries. In 2006, cases of acquiring blood borne infections were reported, among health care workers

Among which around one fourth incidents are prevented by applying proper precautions and disposal of hazardous waste safely.

Other individuals at infection risk are physicians, phlebotomists, housekeepers and laboratory staff. Surgeons are mostly affected by these inoculation injuries during their trainings. But other health care professional like nurses, housekeeping, and physicians are also affected

European Union Directives (2012)

In 2008, the European organizations HOSPEEM (an organization of European Hospital and Healthcare employers) and ESPU (the European Federation of Public Services Union, European trade organization) set up negotiations with respect to. The objective of this EU Directive was to ensure safe working area for the workers, to avoid injuries from needle sticks. The protection of workers from risk and health care staff from risk, at hospitals is not attained by European states and can be attained by the European Union in better ways. According to Clause 11 member states of the Union have to maintain and provide measures to protect workers from injuries caused by the medical sharps

Staff Attitude

The staff attitude towards the use of safer needles is not highly favorable currently since a high degree of adjustment is required. Hoever recognizing that there are multiple benefits to be had with the use of safer needles, the staff would be more likely to increase its usage in the future. The attitude of the staff is not completely against the norms and thus with appropriate education and training to the staff, they would be encouraged to successfully increase the utilization of safer needles. The culture of sharp needles has increased in phenomenon with the increase in risk of different business activities. Since employees are exposed to various risks while working on dangerous machines, there has been an excessive increase in the level of sharp injuries. The safe needles are known to be highly safe and thus this element would increase its utilization.

2 Data Analysis Audit

Cost Comparison

Inoculation injuries are known to incorporate comprehensive arrangements and thus they are prone to be highly costly. The overall per annum expense for a trust in meeting the expenses of inoculation injuries contribute towards a heavy sum of £500,000 (Huang, & Yin, 2013, pp. 1-4). Considering the other expenses which have to be borne by the trust, this ...