Safety Syringe Design Comparison
There are currently four general designs of safety syringes.
1. SPRING RETRACTABLE SYRINGES
The Q STAT Safety Syringe has significant design features that make it the most effective and safe spring retractable syringe.
The Q STAT Safety Syringe works in the same way as a traditional syringe. The luer lock allows for easy change of needles and selection of the appropriate needle for each procedure. It is the only user-controlled automatic retraction syringe available today.
2. SHEATHING TUBE SYRINGES
- Require two hands to operate.
- Require a second hand moving closer to the needle to activate.
- Harder to read the scales because of the sheath.
- Many reported problems of being able to reliably engage the safety mechanisms.
- Must retract from the injection site, exposing the needle before actuation.
- Take up more room in expensive sharps containers.
- Trials of one design actually increased needlesticks at Kaiser Permanente.
- Some require a second operation in order to lock it in place. The same old problem with a new twist.
3. SLIDING NEEDLE COVERS
- Require a grip change.
- Safety feature actuation requires a thumb or finger in closer proximity to the needle.
- Must retract from the injection site, exposing the needle before actuation.
- Kaiser’s use of one model failed to reduce needle sticks during one year of wide-spread use.
4. HINGED NEEDLE COVERS
- Necessitate reaching next to the needle to move the cover out of the way in order to give an injection.
- Require a grip change to operate a safety feature.
- Puts at least one finger in close proximity to the needle after the injection.
- Must retract from the injection site, exposing the needle before actuation.
- Cumbersome to use.
- Flipping motion as the needle snaps into the cover can cause blood splatter.