Cover Story

As COVID-19 restrictions have loosened in most parts of the country, elective and non-essential surgeries have been allowed to resume at many hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). While this is obviously good news for patients and health care facilities, the reopening process has been fraught with challenges.

Where do things stand in 2020 with regard to needlestick injuries and sharps safety? Unfortunately, these injuries remain a serious problem in today’s health care environment.

In a perfect world, medical errors would not occur and no one would ever die as a result of them. Unfortunately, the world we live in is far from perfect. According to a study conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine that was published in 2016, medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States, responsible for up to 250,000 deaths each year.

Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) isn’t new – it was first developed in the 1980s. But it’s becoming more common in clinical practice today as the body of evidence supporting its use in the promotion of wound healing grows.

When the latest coronavirus threat, or COVID-19, first emerged in January, the number one recommendation for protecting oneself from the virus and preventing its spread was to wash hands frequently and thoroughly. Similarly, the best way to prevent healthcare...