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Hospitals that use reusable sharps containers have higher rates of C. difficile infection
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A new study showed acute care hospitals that use reusable sharps containers have higher rates of Clostridium difficile infection, according to a press release.
These findings were recently presented at the 42nd Annual Conference of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology in Nashville, Tenn., the release said.
“The use of containers to properly dispose of sharps in the health care setting is a critical component of most occupational safety programs in health care settings,” Monika Pogorzelska-Maziarz, PhD, MPH, from Jefferson School of Nursing, said in the release. “These findings, while they do not confirm a direct correlation between protocols for sharps disposal and risk of health care associated infection, do raise important questions about the potential role that reusable sharps containers may play in pathogen transmission.”
The study evaluated national survey results completed by more than 600 U.S. hospitals in December 2013, and found hospitals that used single-use containers had almost 15% lower prevalence of C. difficile infection compared with hospitals that used reusable containers (IRR = 0.87).
“Given the widespread use of sharps containers in the health care setting, we applaud Dr. Pogorzelska-Maziarz’s dedication in working to identify and assess a possible link between the use of single-use containers and lower hospital-wide C. diff infection rates,” Lynne Kelley, MD, FACS, vice president, worldwide medical affairs, BD Medication & Procedural Solutions, BD Medical, said in the release. “At BD we are continuing to work to identify effective strategies to reduce health care-associated infections. This study provides very compelling new insights demonstrating where infection control protocols might be modified to reduce risk.”
Disclosures: This study was commissioned and funded by BD. The design and development of the study were determined by Pogorzelska-Maziarz, the results of which are based on Pogorzelska-Maziarz’s analysis of independent data. Kelley reports she is an employee of BD.