Hospitals
and health care employers in California are expected to save over $100
million per year after implementing the California Occupational Safety
and Health Administration's requirement for safe needle devices.
According
to the American Hospital Association, one case of serious infection by
bloodborne pathogens can soon add up to $1 million or more in expenditures
for testing follow-up, lost time and disability payments.
The cost
of follow-up for a high-risk exposure is almost $3,000 per needlestick
injury even when no infection occurs.
Safe needle
devices cost only a fraction more than standard devices.
Hepatitis
B
Hepatitis
B is now preventable due to the vaccine that must be offered to HCWs and
is given to children at birth.
Regulatory
and legislative efforts were largely responsible for the reduction of
deaths from hepatitis B as a result of vaccine programs.
Following
these regulatory and legislative efforts, including the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA) Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, cases
of hepatitis B in health care workers dropped from 17,000 annually to
400 annually-and continue to drop.
Hepatitis
C
Testing for
hepatitis C after needlestick injuries was only recommended in 1998. It
is a silent epidemic. There could be thousands and thousands of nurses
with occupationally acquired hepatitis C who do not know it.
Hepatitis
C is the most frequent infection resulting from needlestick and sharps
injuries. Of health care workers who become infected, 85% become chronic
carriers.
Chronic carriers
have the potential to spread the disease to others, including their partners.
Drugs that
slow the progression of hepatitis C are available, but average $1,700
each month.
Hepatitis
C leads to liver failure, liver transplants and liver cancer. A liver
transplant costs $500,000.
At least
4 million Americans are infected with hepatitis C.
HIV
Human Immunodeficiency
Virus (HIV) is the virus that causes AIDS, a fatal disease.
Advances
in treatment prolong the time before HIV becomes AIDS. The drug treatment
can cost up to $6,000 per month.
16,000 of
the 600,000 to one million needlestick injuries each year result in HIV
exposure.
There are
over 54 documented cases of HCWs with occupationally acquired HIV and
at least 133 cases of possible transmissions of HIV.