ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Current Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines mandate the use of safety needles when allergy injections are given. Safety needles for intradermal testing remain optional. Whether safety needles reduce the number of accidental needle sticks (ANSs) in the outpatient setting has yet to be proven. OBJECTIVE: To determine the rate of ANSs with new (safety) needles vs old needles used in allergy immunotherapy and intradermal testing. METHODS: Allergy practices from 22 states were surveyed by e-mail. RESULTS: Seventy practices (28%) responded to the survey. Twice as many ANSs occurred in practices giving immunotherapy when using new needles vs old needles (P < .01). The rate of ANSs was roughly the same for intradermal testing with new needles vs old needles. CONCLUSIONS: These findings further question whether OSHA's guidelines for safety needle use in outpatient practice need revision and if allergy practices might be excluded from the requirement to use safety needles.
