Existing Solutions
One of the most common causes of needle-stick injuries, which the Needlestick Act and Bloodborne Pathogens Standard were attempting to decrease, was two-handed recapping (Wilburn, 2004). As a result, a one-handed capping mechanism was added to insulin and tuberculin syringes. The cap is attached to the syringe via a hinge, which allows the cap to be snapped onto the needle using one hand. The disadvantage to the hinge system is that the cap can get caught by jewelry and clothing, can get bumped when used, and the fixed position can be a hindrance during low angle injection. So Becton Dickinson (BD) has recently come out with a variation on this safety: instead of a hinge, the device slides over the needle and fully covers the tip of the needle, so accidental needle-sticks do not occur (Becton, Dickinson, and Company, 2004, BD SafetyGlide).
However, the rest of the world does not have similar needle and syringe regulations. For instance, the WHO is only able to regulate vaccinations in developing countries by ensuring that all vaccination syringes sent to these countries have autodisable features, since the major concern is the reuse of contaminated needles and syringes. These autodisable features allow the syringes to only be used once, so they cannot be reused. These mechanisms could be teeth that interlock to prevent the plunger from being pulled back for another use or a bag prefilled with the vaccine to stop reuse. For example, the SoloShot has a metal clip that locks the plunger down after one use (International Council of Nurses, 2005). The BD Uniject is a prefilled vaccine syringe that uses a plastic bulb instead of a plunger and has a disc valve to prevent reuse (Becton, Dickinson, and Company, 2005).
Still, over 90% of syringes worldwide do not have autodisable features (Harner, 2004). Individual protection devices are expensive, and regular needles are much more prevalent. Consequently, many developing world countries use needle-removers to reduce the risk of disease transmission via these exposed.
Read more about this topic: Needle Remover
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