Each year in the U.S. there are around 40 million open surgeries. Surgery closures rely on either what’s called running sutures – which make a series of stitches with a single uninterrupted suture line – or interrupted sutures, in which each stitch is completed with a separate suture line.
Interrupted sutures are more frequently used. At the end of each stitch, the surgeon exchanges the now contaminated needle for a new needle from a scrub tech, who pre-loads the needle with a suture line. This process involves two people, making it inefficient.
Challenges Regarding Needle Exchanges
A two-person needle exchange also presents additional safety and continuity liabilities:
- Needle Stick Hazard by Contaminated Needle Needle sticks durning exchange can be severe, with potential exposure to bloodborne pathogens.
- Dropped Needles Delays occur due to lost or dropped needles, which must be found to make sure they don’t remain in the patient.
- OR Turnaround Time Scrub techs multitask, which presents delays in providing surgeons with new needles.
- Procedural Continuity Finding and counting needles requires two people and repeated counting, which results in time out from procedures.
Needle Safety Device Solutions
In 2000, the U.S. Congress passed a Needle Stick Prevention Act for the evaluation of technology preventing injury and blood borne pathogen exposure by surgical staff.
As a means to solve this problem, a forearm-mounted kit, holding standard suture packs and a needle-storing trap, serves as a needle safety device, shielding needle tips and allowing surgeons to safely tuck them out of the way without the need for a repeated find and count. A kit also provides additional solutions:
- Surgeons self-dispense and self-secure needles, keeping them within the surgeon’s near field and eliminating the need to pass needles and avoiding accidental contaminated-needle sticks.
- The closure-process pace entirely depends on the surgeon.
- The surgeon maintains needle securement, reducing chances of dropped needles.
- Scrub techs are free of needle-passing distractions, allowing them to allot attention to sponge counts.
- OR turnover improves due to optimized distribution of staffing resources, reducing costly overtime.
Management System Providers
Creators of suture needle management safety solutions give clinicians and surgeons closure autonomy, reducing the chances of retained objects and minimizing potential needlestick injuries. They also permit self-dispensing and self-securing of needles by surgeons during the closure process. Call Sharp Fluidics, based in Hayward, California, at (866) 376-4686 or visit our website to find out more.
