One needle, one syringe, only one time? A survey of physician and nurse knowledge, attitudes, and practices around injection safety

Background: To inform development, targeting, and penetration of materials from a national injection safety campaign, an evaluation was conducted to assess provider knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to unsafe injection practices. Methods: A panel of physicians ( n = 370) and nurses (n = 320) were recruited from 8 states to complete an online survey. Questions, using 5-point Likert and Spector scales, addressed acceptability and frequency of unsafe practices (eg, reuse of a syringe on > 1 patient). Resultswere stratified to identify differences among physician specialties and nurse practice locations. Results: Unsafe injection practices were reported by both physicians and nurses across all surveyed physician specialties and nurse practice locations. Twelve percent (12.4%) of physicians and 3% of nurses indicated reuse of syringes for > 1 patient occurs in their workplace; nearly 5% of physicians indicated this practice usually or always occurs. A higher proportion of oncologists reported unsafe practices occurring in their workplace. Conclusions: There is a dangerous minority of providers violating basic standards of care; practice patternsmay vary by provider group and specialty. More research is needed to understand how best to identify providers placing patients at risk of infection and modify their behaviors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.