1. Karen A. Daley, former president of the American Nurses Association, is a women from Massachusetts who had spent over 25 years of her life as a front line worker at a Boston teaching hospital. During one of her shifts, she suffered a preventable injury from a needle stick that changed the course of her career and life (Patton et al., 2019, p.4). As she recalls, prior to her last needle stick in 1998, she had at least 5-6 needle sticks throughout her career (Devex, 2019). In fact, needle sticks had become such a common occurrence that she contemplated not reporting her last needle stick. Thankfully, she did report it and began receiving care for her injury and later learned that she had contracted both HIV and Hepatitis C. She spent the next two years on a trajectory to be an advocate for health care worker safety and became passionate about changing policy to include safety measures to prevent needle stick injuries.
In 2000, Karen became the face of a campaign supported by the American Nurses Association called Safe Needles Save Lives. Karen visited 26 states to share her story and urge state legislators and hospital executives to take seriously the need for sharps injury prevention. She shared that at the time of her injury “15% of hospitals across the nation were only using one type of safety device (for needle stick prevention)” (Devex, 2019). During her campaign she sparked inspiration amongst other nurses who felt passionate to speak out for needle stick prevention in the work place. Their combined testimony gained national attention and eventually Karen was fortunate to speak in front of Congress. Karen worked alongside the ANA to speak directly to legislators and their staff who opposed additional health care regulation. Their constituents who were mostly smaller health groups from rural communities feared that “additional regulation will cost more and potentially put them out of business” (Devex, 2019). However, Karen’s “powerful testimony pushed law makers to pass state (and federal) legislation designed to protect health care workers from sharps injuries” (Devex, 2019). This legislation included: safety devices on sharps to prevent injury, front line worker input on the selection, implementation and evaluation of safety devices, and employers maintaining a sharps injury log (American Nurses Association, 2010).
Karen Daley used her tragic injury to spark a passion of advocacy for health care worker safety. According to Karen, “worker safety is patient safety” (Devex, 2019). In other words, issues surrounding worker safety ultimately effect patient safety; therefore, it is within society’s best interest to keep health care workers safe while in the work environment. Some driving forces that led to Karen’s success in passing the Federal Needle Stick Safety and Prevention Act (NSPA) in 2000 were her connections with local grass roots organizations in multiple states, the support of a national nurses association (ANA) with legislative connections, and the support of nurses across America uniting and speaking as one voice the same consistent message for needle stick prevention. Karen was successful in her efforts in front of the Massachusetts senate to pass state legislation prior to her big victory in passing federal law supporting needle stick safety and prevention.
Two decades later it is being reported that “needle stick injuries are on the rise after a long period of decline” (Relias Media, 2020). After an initial sharp decline in injuries after the passing of NSPA, the “rate of needle sticks per 100 hospital beds daily have steadily increased to 31.040” (Relias Media, 2020). This rate is near the average (34.825) prior to 2000 and the passing of the NSPA. This rate is alarming and may be due to a culture that is taking needle stick injuries less seriously, and complacency from modern medicine giving the false impression that needle stick injuries are less serious than in the past. However, with the push to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, there will be more opportunities for potential needle sticks and therefore, safety measures must be in place to protect health care workers and the public. Right now risk managers for health care organizations can lean in and review the data in order to “identify improved processes and devices that might reduce the incidence of (life altering) needlesticks” (Relias Media, 2020).
2. Leadership is critical in every profession because it determines the direction in which the profession will follow. For a long time, nurses have been urged to take advantage of their number in the health care system and take up leadership positions. Additionally, there has been a clarion call for nurses to get out of board rooms where they propose policies and get involved in the policies formulation in the state and federal government. Further, nurses must partner with other healthcare professionals and foster policies that will advocate for policies that will better the healthcare system and improve patient outcomes (Linda Degutis, DrPH, MSN. Yale School of Public Health. (2019).
Dr. Linda Degutis is one of the nurses who have lead in policymaking in the health care system. She earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from DePaul University and her MSN and DrPh from Yale University. In CDC, she Works as a consultant in injury and violence prevention and policy and public health policies. Currently, her focus is on the prevention of firearm injuries and suicide prevention among the veterans. In 2019 she received the RWJE health Policy Fellows Program Lifetime Achievement award for extraordinary and longtime commitment on public health, nursing, and medicine (Awards – rwjf health policy fellows. RWJF Health Policy Fellows – A National Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 2021).
On her appointment to CDC National Center for Injury prevention and control, Dr. Degutis noted that injuries are leading causes of death in persons aged between 1-44 years. Therefore, there is a need to enhance policy and avail funds for control and prevent of injuries. Dr. Degutis notes that some of the challenges limiting prevention and control of injuries are high-cost initiating programs that would limit injuries. Another challenge is the lack of strategies for examining and evaluating the existing policies.
