Did you know, according to the World Health Organization, someone dies every 24 seconds from a needle injury — that’s 1.3 million preventable
deaths globally each year. Accidental needlestick injuries affect 1 million healthcare workers each year in the U.S.
Becky Ettinger, former RN, MSN was accidentally pricked by a contaminated needle and exposed to Hepatitis B. As a result, she had to leave her nursing career. “The first thing that went through my mind was, ‘Am I going to die?’” said Ms. Ettinger. “Those that are administering injections are one stick away from losing everything. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
Needlestick safety is a long-time problem in healthcare. The 2008 Study of Nurses Views on Workplace Safety and Needlestick Injuries by the American Nurses Association reveals Needlestick Injuries (NSIs) and blood-borne infections remain a major concern in the U.S., with two-thirds of all nurses having been accidentally stuck by a needle while working. It is estimated that nearly 40 million injections are given each day in the U.S. and Europe and only 1 in 3 needlestick injuries are actually reported.
Ten years ago on November 6th, the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act passed, which requires healthcare facilities to adopt, create, maintain, and annually update information on commercially available technology designed to eliminate or minimize occupational exposure to blood-borne pathogens. However, since this legislation was passed, the number of injuries is still rising — and current technology still isn’t fully addressing the issue of syringe re-use, sharps injuries and blood splatter.
“Shots clearly aren’t as safe as they could be,” said Mike Madden, former Vice President of Advocacy and Development, for Providence Health &
Services, a 26-hospital, $6 billion nonprofit health system serving five states. “Having a safe delivery system is imperative for the future safety of anyone in contact with a needle. One of the things that hospitals and other institutions have not had is a product that would both simplify and make automatic the safety challenge of needles.”**
The U.S. General Accounting Office estimated that the annual out-of-pocket costs of treating U.S. hospital needlestick injuries were between $37
million and $173 million. And EcoMed, Inc. reports, globally, 60%-80% needlestick injuries go unreported. The high cost and complexity of spring-loaded, retractable syringes have limited the adoption of safety syringes in hospitals and places where shots are administered.”
There is a new low-cost solution with a simple design aimed at eliminating blood splatter, disabling the syringe after use, and acting as its own sharps container.The SafeShot Epiphany Safety Syringe uses a vacuum barrel to permanently retract the needle into the syringe after the injection is administered. After use, the Epiphany acts as its own sharps container, eliminating the threat of injury or re-use. This low-cost,innovative approach can revolutionize the healthcare industry by protecting the nearly 1 million patients and frontline healthcare professionals who are stuck each year in the U.S.; while helping prevent the global spread of HIV/Hepatitis which annually impacts 22 million people.
Last week, SafeShot Technologies, LLC, announced the successful development and patent filings on a new “low dose” version of its revolutionary safety injection technology called the Epiphany Ultra, which allows for safe injections in /1ml and lower/ volumes using the same simple, single-handed vacuum retraction technology used in its larger versions. The Epiphany and now Epiphany Ultra completes SafeShot’s full-line of safe, compliant, simple and affordable safety syringe technology that works equally well across the full spectrum of desired injection drug delivery needs, including pre-fills, clinical, home, consumer and immunization/vaccination.
“This is a huge milestone for our engineering team and company because of the precision required in designing an ‘Ultra Low Dose’ safety syringe that is as simple and affordable as the Epiphany Ultra,” said Robert Beart, Emeritus Professor of Surgery at USC’s Keck School of Medicine and CEO of SafeShot. “Epiphany Ultra completes the entire spectrum of safe, complaint injection drug delivery in ‘all sizes’ while breaking the cost barriers that have prohibited healthcare facilities from broadly adopting the most effective safety technology for their facilities. Its innovative design saves time in training, administering injections, and we are proud to say, it will ultimately save lives.”
With the global production of non-safety syringes in the tens of billions, a traditional reusable syringe can be produced for about $.10. Current spring-loaded, retractable needles do not address the issue of blood splatter and because of their complex design, end up costing in the range of $.70 or more per unit. Because of the Epiphany’s simple design, SafeShot Technologies claims it can manufacture its syringes pennies above the cost of a traditional syringe. If that is a fact, this technology could truly revolutionize the health care industry.
“There are five key characteristics of a safe, effective and affordable solution to tackle the global issue of needlestick injuries, and omitting any one of these characteristics in syringe development directly jeopardizes the ability to give a safe shot or eradicate the issues of needlestick injury and syringe re-use,” added Mike Madden.
- The 5 key factors to safe injection drug delivery include:
- The device must be “auto disabling,” destructing after a single use
- The device must provide protection from accidental needlesticks
- The device must be safe through disposal, acting as it’s own sharps container
- The device must not create a blood splatter or aerosol.
- And…the device must be affordable
If SafeShot Epiphany can directly address the issues of accidental needlesticks, re-used needles, downstream injuries and biohazardous waste, while breaking through the steep cost barriers that once existed in adopting safety technology, it just might be the catalyst to remove the roadblocks that have prohibited the Needlestick Safety & Prevention Act from doing the job it set out to do a decade ago.
