resources to help you.
Here are some online resources that you may find useful, however Cohen Cramer take no responsibility for their content or format. Much of the information is American as there seems to be more activity and research in the States than here in the UK.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/healthservices/needlesticks/ UK government website offering advice on the treatment of needlestick injuries
European sharps directive aimed at preventing sharps injuries: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:134:0066:0072:EN:PDF
Patient UK, good section on avoiding an injury: http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Needle-Stick-Injury.htm
Important RCN report that showed that nearly half of all nurses (48%) have been injured by a needle that had previously been used on a patient. You can download the report from this address http://www.ivteam.com/needlestick-injury-report/
http://www.avert.org/blood-safety-hiv.htm International site with info on blood safety from HIV perspective
http://www.aidsmap.com/What-to-do-after-a-needlestick-injury/page/1324550/ several pages of useful information
A quarter of those who said they had suffered needlestick injuries reported that they did not receive help from their employer (RCN report 2008)
http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/booth/booths/needle.html UK site with large collection of information including studies and reviews
http://www.bath.ac.uk/internal/safety/1section_4-2-06.htm a useful example of a UK institution’s needlestick injury protocol
Needlestick injuries also occur in Vets practices, here’s a good blog posting for UK Veterinary workers: http://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/2009/03/articles/animals/dogs/needlestick-injuries/
http://www.impactednurse.com/?p=334 for a more personal approach here is a sensitive article by an Australian nurse with masses of comments since first posting in 2007, latest comment 29 Dec 2010
http://www.premierinc.com/safety/topics/needlestick/ a very thorough US site with masses of information
An excellent article in the New England Journal of Medicine, with worrying statistics on the non-reporting of needlestick injuries: http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa070378
A good US article in a Medical Resident’s blog with a cool assessment of the effectiveness of treatment: http://idiopathicmedicine.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/needle-stick-injuries/
A thorough Needlestick injury, sharps, bites and scratches Protocol from the Cork Emergency Medicine handbook: http://handbook.muh.ie/Infections/Needlestick.htm
A good informative briefing from Family Doctor, an American site. It includes advice on what you maybe asked about yourself and the patient: http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/healthy/safety/work/004.html
http://www.drugs.com/cg/needle-stick-injuries.html US based site again offering treatment advice of needlestick injuries
Hepatitis C Support project (US) http://www.hcvadvocate.org/hcsp/articles/Jensen.html