More than 400 million blood draws take place in the United States each year, and while they provide vital diagnostic information, they also cause anxiety in patients and represent a significant safety risk to health care workers, writes John Palmer for Patient Safety and Quality Health Care.
Now, several hospitals have announced they will be using new technology called “the PIVO needle-free device” for inpatient blood draws.
University Hospitals in Cleveland in Cleveland, Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn., and Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston have all announced they will be using or testing the device.
According to OSHA some 5.6 million workers in the United States are at risk of exposure to blood borne pathogens, and roughly 1 million workers report a needle stick or other sharps-related injury—a number OSHA estimates is wildly inaccurate because as many as half of these injuries may go unreported.