FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 28, 2001

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American Nurses Foundation Awarded OSHA Worker Training Grant

Washington, DC --The American Nurses Foundation (ANF), the research, education and charitable affiliate of the American Nurses Association (ANA), has been awarded a grant from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for a program designed to teach health care workers about bloodborne pathogen hazards. The grant, totaling $198,736, will be used to develop training workshops and materials that focus on how to recognize bloodborne pathogens and how to evaluate and select safer needle devices.

The award will fund two train-the-trainer workshops for up to 60 nurse association leaders, including staff nurses and nurses in education and management positions. The trainers, in turn, will train 10 persons each year over the next year.

ANF was among 28 new grantees selected through a national competition open to all non-profit organizations. In all, $10.6 million was awarded to 61 nonprofit organizations for new and existing safety and health training programs. Grants were awarded for a one-year period, with the possibility of renewal for an additional year.

"We applaud OSHA for awarding these grants to ANF and other organizations representing some of the nation's most at-risk workers," stated ANF President Grayce M. Sills, PhD, RN, FAAN. "The training that results, using the mandated safer needle devices, will help protect health care workers from the approximately 800,000 needlestick and sharps injuries that occur in the United States annually," said ANA President Mary E. Foley, MS, RN.

Registered nurses and other health care workers face the risk of needlesick injury every day, thus exposing themselves to potentially fatal bloodborne pathogens such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C. To prevent these types of injuries, ANA was instrumental in the passage of the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act, which was signed into law in November 2000.

In addition to needlesticks, nurses also face infectious agents such as TB, disabling back injuries and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), latex allergy, workplace violence, chemical hazards and poor working conditions, such as short staffing and mandatory overtime.

To document the extent of these concerns, ANA recently conducted an online survey, which found that 45 percent of nurses surveyed responded that contracting HIV or hepatitis from a needlestick injury was among their top three health-and-safety-related worries. (The other two top concerns were the acute and chronic effects of stress and overwork, cited by 70.5 percent of respondents, followed by the risk of sustaining a disabling back injury, cited by 60 percent.)

The health and safety survey further revealed that while the implementation of the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act earlier this year has made a significant impact, nearly 20 percent of nurses surveyed revealed that their facilities still do not provide safe needle devices for injections, IV inserts and phlebotomy procedures.

"We are confident that implementing these two new training programs will assist in greater compliance with the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act, and greater protections for nurses in health care facilities across the country," Foley stated.

The American Nurses Foundation (ANF), founded in 1955, complements the work of ANA, the oldest and largest nursing organization in America, by raising funds and developing and managing grants to support advances in research, education and clinical practice. Since its inception, the foundation has worked to enhance consumer's health by supporting projects that strengthen the nursing profession. ANF accomplishes its mission through four major functions: nursing research grants, extramural projects/grants, fund-raising and American Nurses Publishing.

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The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.7 million Registered Nurses through its constituent member nurses associations. The ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the rights of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

2001 press releases

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