Workbook for Designing, Implementing, and Evaluating a Sharps Injury Prevention Program

Contents:

OPERATIONAL PROCESSES

Education and Training of Healthcare Personnel

Introduction

Healthcare Personnel as Adult Learners

Adult learners are very different from child learners. One reason is, unlike children, adults enter the learning process after years of personal experience. Adults have existing knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes that influence what they take from or contribute to a learning opportunity. Adults learn best (i.e., retain and apply the information provided) when:

• The material is relevant to their lives and is something they are motivated to learn about;
• They learn practical rather than academic knowledge and can apply the information immediately;
• The material builds on their personal experience;
• They are actively involved in the learning process; and
• They are treated with respect.

Unfortunately, much of the education and training of healthcare personnel is more typical of traditional schooling and is provided in the context of meeting regulatory requirements. As such, there is often a resistance or lack of personal motivation to attend lectures or view videotapes or other self-directed teaching tools. In the end, a requirement is met but learning may not have taken place.

This workbook provides a reference for those who wish to read more about adult learning theory and teaching methods (106). The remainder of this section discusses various opportunities and methods for training healthcare personnel in order to make it meaningful experience for the learner.

Opportunities for Educating and Training Healthcare Personnel

Perhaps the most obvious opportunity for teaching prevention of sharps

Decide exactly what information each of these teaching opportunities will provide. The sharps injury prevention program baseline assessment (see Organizational Steps, Step 2. Assess Program Operation Processes), should be a guide for educational planning, including ways to reach students, contractors, per diem staff, and others.

Content for an Orientation or Annual Training on Sharps Injury Prevention

As mentioned above, adults learn best when the information is relevant to their work. For that reason, it is useful to incorporate local information on sharps injuries and sharps injury prevention in the training. Areas that might be described in the training include the following (if applicable to the group being trained):

A description of injuries reported by the facility's personnel:

• Number of sharps injuries reported in the last year or several years;
• Occupations, devices and procedures involved; and
• The most common ways injuries occur in the facility.

Information on the hierarchy of controls and how this concept is applied in the facility:

• Strategies to reduce or eliminate the use of needles (e.g., needle-free IV delivery systems);
• Devices with engineered sharps injury prevention features that have been considered and/or implemented in the facility;
• Introduction of other engineering controls (e.g., rigid sharps disposal containers);
• Work practices that can be used to reduce injury risks; and
• Whether any personal protective equipment is available to reduce injury risks (e.g., Kevlar gloves for surgery and autopsy, leather gloves for maintenance personnel).

Administrative activities designed to decrease sharps injuries:

• Development of a sharps injury prevention team;
• Changes or improvements in exposure reporting procedures; and
• Safety culture initiatives.

If the training is primarily lecture, methods to make the training more interesting might include:

Presentation of case studies of exposures (protect the confidentiality of workers involved). At the end of the case presentation, the trainer might engage the audience in a discussion of how to prevent the injury.

Facilitating a discussion of audience perceptions of sharps safety in the facility and suggestions for improvement.

Teaching Tools

Tools to enhance the learning process have evolved over the years, from the simple chalk board to overhead transparencies, paper flip charts, slides, films, and more recently to video- and audio-tapes, teleconferences, computerized and non-computerized self-study programs, interactive video, and other methods. Self-study educational materials enable healthcare personnel to receive training at their own convenience and pace; these are becoming increasingly important. Most healthcare organizations do not have the resources to develop sophisticated educational materials for sharps injury prevention. However, various professional organizations, device manufacturers, and federal agencies (e.g. OSHA, CDC) have materials and staff support that can augment local training for healthcare personnel. As interest in this area grows, it is likely that an increasing number of resources will be available to facilities to use for training.

• http://www.cdc.gov/sharppsafety/
• http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/bloodbornepathogens/index.html/
• http://www.abbottnps.com/
• http://www.bd.com/safety/edu/