Trick of the Trade: Avoiding a straight-needle needlestick injury

You are finishing up a successful subclavian line procedure. You insert the straight-needle suture needle through the skin to secure the line. When trying to pull it out, you accidentally poke yourself!

This is actually a common scenario for a needlestick injury. Although many central line kits now have curved suture needles, many still have straight needles. How can you avoid a needlestick?

Trick of the Trade:
Use a needle hub as a thimble-like protector

Safety technique for straight suture needle from Sinai EM Ultrasound on Vimeo.

Thanks to Dr. Bret Nelson (Mount Sinai) and SinaiEM.us for the video and great tip! Here's the link to the SinaiEM.us post as well.

Here's a variation on this trick by Dr. Haney Mallemat (@CriticalCareNow) and Ultrarounds.com.


Reference
Nelson BP. Making straight suture needles a little safer: a technique to keep fingers from harm's way. J Emerg Med. 2008 Feb; 34(2):195-7. Epub 2007 Oct 1. Pubmed