Safeguarding the health of the health care professional has always been a high priority for hospital managers. Starting with the 1991 OSHA Bloodborne Pathogen standard, state and federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspectors have surveyed hospitals on their programs for ensuring that bloodborne pathogen diseases are not transmitted from patients to employees. With the implementation of the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act of 2000, hospital managers will need to show evidence that they evaluated and selected a wide range of safety devices such as syringes, blood draw sets, catheters, and I.V. connectors. These workshops will provide detailed, practical information on how to comply with the federal needlestick law and OSHA's final rule that went into effect April 18, 2001. In addition, the new OSHA enforcement directive of November 2001 will be reviewed. The focus will be on developing practical discussion among the participants and the presenters on how best to ensure compliance with the new standard. Over 70 safety devices will be discussed. Participants are encouraged to bring their Bloodborne Pathogen Plan and samples of safety devices to the seminar.

This course is designed for Hospital Administrators, Safety Professionals, Nurse Managers, Compliance staff, Infection control practitioners, Risk Managers and Supply Purchasers.

This workshop is much more than a static review of the challenges facing the infection control practitioner. Infection control practitioners have indicated to us that they want much more than to just comply with OSHA regulations. They want to actually reduce the number of sharps injuries that occur in their facilities. They want to make the hospital a safer place to work. Regulation cannot do that alone. It takes dedication and knowledge. Infection Control practitioners have the dedication.  This program assists them in obtaining the knowledge that will allow them to make changes that can meet these goals.

Infection control practitioners have enjoyed the safety product review section of this workshop. Everyone has the opportunity to share with the group what has worked for their clinicians.  Participants are able to find out who is using specific sharps prevention devices so that they can follow-up with those people as their own clinical trials are conducted.