The Safe Injection Practices Coalition, a public-private partnership whose members include the CDC Foundation, the Ambulatory Surgery Foundation and the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, yesterday launched a new campaign to educate both healthcare providers and patients about the hazards of reusing needles and syringes.

"One Needle, One Syringe, and Only One Time," is the motto of the coalition???s One & Only Campaign. The initiative is aimed particularly at non-hospital healthcare settings in response to last year???s outbreak investigation centering on unsafe injection practices at endoscopy clinics in Nevada. "Sadly, the continued occurrence of life-threatening outbreaks of infectious diseases caused by healthcare providers' misuse of needles, syringes and medication vials shows no signs of abating," says campaign co-chairman Evelyn V. McKnight in a press release.

To encourage proper adherence to injection safety protocols, the campaign will develop and distribute training materials for clinicians and educational materials aimed at empowering patients to play a role in preventing the reuse of needles and syringes. Some resources for healthcare providers are already available on the One & Only Campaign Web site.

The campaign will begin in Nevada and, after evaluations of its effectiveness, will be introduced in other states hit by recent outbreaks, with the goal of eventually taking it nationwide.

—Irene Tsikitas