SUBMITTED NEWS RELEASE
CARSON CITY, Nev. — The Nevada State Health Division recently recognized Patient Safety Awareness Week, March 6 through 12, by encouraging all Nevadans to become active participants in their healthcare. Patients who actively participate in their healthcare are informed and prepared. They are comfortable speaking up and asking questions of their healthcare providers.
Asking questions will not offend your healthcare provider. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one way to be a safe patient is to ask your healthcare provider, “Will there be a new needle, new syringe, and a new vial for this procedure or injection?” Healthcare providers should never reuse a needle or syringe on more than one patient.
Serious infections such as hepatitis can be passed to patients at the hand of a healthcare provider if unsafe injection practices are used. Since 1999, more than 125,000 patients in the United States have been notified of potential exposure to hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and HIV due to lapses in basic infection control practices. Many of these lapses involved healthcare providers reusing syringes, resulting in contamination of medication vials or containers which were used then on subsequent patients.
The One & Only Campaign is a national public health education and awareness initiative developed by the Safe Injection Practices Coalition (SIPC) and the CDC to halt disease transmission caused by unsafe injection practices in United States healthcare facilities. By practicing the campaign’s slogan: “One Needle, One Syringe, and Only One Time” for each and every injection, the risk of contracting hepatitis and other infections through medical injections will be greatly reduced.
The goal of the One & Only Campaign is to ensure patients are protected each and every time they receive a medical injection. This will be attained by empowering patients and re-educating healthcare providers regarding safe injection practices.
Patients and providers must both insist on nothing less than One Needle, One Syringe, and Only One Time for each and every injection.
To learn more about patient safety and 10 ways to be a safe patient, visit the CDC website at www.cdc.gov/Features/PatientSafety/
To learn more about the One and Only Campaign, visit www.OneandOnlycampaign.org or contact the Nevada Safe Injection Practices Campaign Director at (775) 684-1043.
