Letter to Editor About Needlestick Injuries

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Letters Editor
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To the Editor

As a registered nurse (RN), a citizen of CITY/STATE, and a member of the NAME OF SNA, I wanted to alert readers of NAME OF NEWSPAPER to the fact that, nurses and other health care workers suffer between 600,000 and one million injuries from conventional needles and sharps annually. More than 1,000 health care workers contract potentially life-threatening infections, such as HIV and hepatitis C, from these injuries.

Safer needles that would significantly reduce the number of needlesticks have been available now for more than 10 years! Yet, in spite of widespread availability, less than 15 percent of U.S. hospitals have made the switch to these safer devices. One case of serious infection from a needlestick can soon add up to $1 million or more for testing, follow-up, lost wages and disability payments. Even when no infection occurs, it costs almost $3,000 per needlestick injury for follow-up. These costs are high — and they don't even include the human costs — yet safe needle devices cost only 28 cents more than standard devices.

The federal Health Care Worker Needlestick Prevention Act of 1999 (H.R. 1899/S. 1140) would mandate the substitution of existing needlestick products with safer needle devices. Over 80 percent of needlestick injuries could be prevented with the use of these safer devices. As a nurse and as a citizen, I call upon my fellow CHICAGOANS, ETC., to show their support for their health care providers by contacting their U.S. Representative to voice support for H.R. 1899/S. 1140.

Sincerely,

NAME/CREDENTIALS

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