Standard precautions: Injection safety and needle-stick injury management

Following safe injection practices is key to preventing the spread of infection during health care delivery. Unsafe injection practices include: unnecessary injections, reusing needles and syringes, using a single dose medication vial for multiple patients, giving an injection in an environment that is not clean and hygienic, and risking injury due to incorrect sharps disposal.

The associated dangers such as needle-stick injuries put health workers at risk of infection and, in many cases, these injuries are underreported. It is important to make sure health care workers in your facility are trained in sharps injury prevention, as accidents can easily occur if safety practices are not routinely and rigorously followed.

Course information

The course is also available in the following languages:
Tetun - Nederlands - македонски

Overview: In this course, you will learn about the causes of unsafe injection practices, how to safely give injections, and how to safely dispose of needles and other sharps. You will also learn what to do when needle-stick injuries occur, how to manage potential exposures, and ways to protect yourself, the staff and patients in your facility, and your community.

Learning objectives: By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• identify common factors that contribute to unsafe injection practices in health care;
• explain the risks associated with unsafe injection practices and infections caused by them;
• apply injection safety best practices in health care;
• describe the 7 steps of a safe injection;
• demonstrate safe handling and disposal of needles and other sharps;
• explain the mechanism of safety-engineered syringes;
• identify the ways in which needle-stick injuries can occur in your facility;
• describe what to do if a needle-stick injury does occur;
• explain exposure management for hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV from needle-stick injuries; and
• apply the multimodal strategy to reduce needle-stick injuries in your facility.

Course duration: Approximately 2 hours.

Certificates: A Record of Achievement will be issued to participants who receive at least 70% on the post-test. You have an unlimited number of attempts to meet the threshold. Participants who receive a Record of Achievement can also download an Open Badge for this course. Click here to learn how.