Safe in Common to Exhibit at APIC Annual Educational Conference

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., June 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Safe in Common (SIC), a non-profit organization of healthcare safety advocates, announced that it will exhibit at the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology's (APIC) 40^th Annual Educational Conference & International Meeting, hosted in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, from June 8 – 10, 2013.

Safe in Common will join more than 2,500 clinical professionals as part of the organization's on-going efforts to raise awareness about needlestick safety and promote safer engineering controls. Some 5.6 million U.S. healthcare personnel are at risk of occupational exposure to HIV, hepatitis C and other life-threatening bloodborne diseases transmitted via needlestick- or sharps-related injuries.

Dr. Mary Foley, RN, PHD, Chairperson of Safe in Common is privileged to be among the attendees alongside APIC who play an active role in unifying and educating healthcare personnel surrounding injuries and infection as a result of needlestick- and sharps-related injuries.

"Our industry has worked tirelessly to fight for infection control and against unnecessary needlestick and sharps injuries during APIC's four decades," Foley said. "We still, however, have a great deal of work to do to unify our community of healthcare personnel, manufacturers, pharmaceutical firms, regulators, accrediting organizations and provider executives to make sure that needlestick- and sharps-related injuries are eradicated."

Safe in Common will be exhibiting at Booth 1231 where healthcare workers can meet Dr. Foley, discuss Safe in Common's mission and sign the Needlestick Safety Pledge. Safe in Common will also be discussing the Top 10 "Golden Rules" of safer engineering controls. For more information about these safety standards, please visit Safe in Common's most recent online conference, which was held on May 30, here.

Foley will deliver a poster presentation during the event titled "Needlestick and Sharps Injuries among Healthcare Personnel Persist." In concert with APIC's look back at its own four decades of work, Foley's presentation will address how this year marks the 15th anniversary of the first legislation requiring safety devices with the passage of AB1208 in California and the passage of the Federal Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act in 2000. Foley will discuss how these actions led to rapid adoption of safety engineered medical devices and look at the considerable evidence that sharps injuries persist, even when safety devices are used.

Safe in Common believes that all healthcare workers deserve access to the simplest, safest available technologies so that they can work within an environment that is free from the risks of life-changing needlestick and sharps injuries. For more information about Safe in Common and the Organization's on-going work to raise awareness of needlestick safety and promote utilizing safer engineering controls that protect healthcare workers from unnecessary needlestick- and sharps-related injuries, please visit http://www.safeincommon.org.

About Safe in Common
Safe in Common is a non-profit organization established to enhance and save the lives of U.S. healthcare personnel at risk of harm from needlestick injuries. It is led by Chairperson Mary Foley, PhD, RN, former President of the American Nursing Association and other industry leaders. To learn more about the Needlestick Safety Pledge and its goal of promoting and strengthening the Federal Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act, go to www.facebook.com/safeincommon and follow Safe in Common on Twitter at www.twitter.com/safeincommon.

Media Contacts:
Joe McGurk
KCSA Strategic Communications
[email protected]
P: 212-896-1231

SOURCE Safe in Common