Safety statement and Policies and Guidelines

• Clinical Education Centre
• Facilities of the Clinical Education Centre
• Teaching methods
• Using the CEC – Student Information
• Safety statement and Policies and Guidelines
• Publications

Staff members, students, and visitors have a responsibility to ensure their own safety under the Safety, Health, and Welfare at Work Act (2005) section 13 and in that regard should take appropriate care in all situations to identify the hazards and minimise the risk associated with activities in the Clinical Education Centre (CEC). This document must be read in conjunction with the D.C.U. policy document and Safety Statement of the School of Nursing.

Activity: Administration of Medications

Risk:  The Clinical Education Centre has a drug trolley and a controlled drug (MDA) press to simulate the administration of drugs.
Control: Drugs are not stored in the Clinical Education Centre at any time. Non-pharmacological substitutes are used in all situations.

Activity: Audio-Visual Confidentiality

Risk: The Clinical Education Centre has audio-visual equipment to help students practise and develop nursing skills.
Control: Each student’s information is kept in his or her own personal file. This information will remain confidential and cannot be accessed by third parties provided that

• Each student keeps their personal access code secret and does not disclose it to others.
• Each student shuts down their files and logs out properly when finished.

Activity: Invasive Procedures

• Risk: Injury to the person. Some of the skills taught in the Clinical Education Centre are invasive procedures and have the potential to be dangerous.

Control: Mannequins are used to demonstrate and practice invasive procedures. No invasive procedure is carried out on humans and students should not practice any invasive procedures on each other in the Clinical Education Centre. There are procedures that cannot be undertaken on the mannequins. However in the interest of safety and reduction of the risk of injury it is not possible for students to undertake any invasive procedure on a colleague.

Activity: Latex Allergy

Risk: For some people, exposure to latex may result in latex allergic reactions to the skin.
Control: In the Clinical Education Centre it is not necessary to wear gloves for infection control reasons. However, staff/students need to demonstrate/learn the correct techniques to put on and remove sterile and non-sterile gloves for practice in the clinical areas.

A number of control measures have been put in place to reduce exposure to latex.

• Limit exposure by having a policy of not wearing gloves unless it is necessary to demonstrate or practice a skill. Remove gloves as soon as possible and wash and dry hands after removal.
• Ensure that powdered gloves are not used when powder free gloves can be used.
• Provision of non-latex gloves for staff / students who indicate that they have a latex allergy.

If you develop symptoms of latex allergy you must avoid contact with latex gloves and other latex containing products and inform a member of the C.E.C. staff.

Activity: Manual Handling

• Risk: It is recognised that manual handling activities can be a significant source of injury resulting in pain, recurring injury, time off work and sometimes long term or permanent disablement.

Manual handling activities in the clinical education centre include:

• Manual handling training sessions for both inanimate objects and patient moving and handling.
• Moving equipment to different areas within the centre as needed (e.g. beds, mannequins, televisions, flipcharts, equipment trolleys etc)
• Setting up equipment for skills sessions
• Taking in and storing stocks / supplies

Control: The Clinical Education Centre operates a minimal lifting policy. Where alternatives to lifting are available they should be used. Heavy equipment is stored at waist level. All staff and students must complete the Manual Handling training programme and adopt the recommended guidelines and techniques for manual handling.

Activity: Safe Disposal of Sharps and Sharps Injury Policy

Risk: Sharps injury. For the purpose of this policy the term ‘sharps’ includes needles, IV cannulae, scalpels, razor blades, clip removers, scissors, test tubes, broken glass or any other sharp implement with the potential to cause a penetrating injury if not handled in a safe manner. In the Clinical Education Centre sharps are not used on people so there is no risk of blood-borne infection. However, staff / students use sharps to demonstrate / practice certain skills for use in the clinical area.
Control: To reduce the risk of sharps injury it is essential that the handling and disposal of sharps be managed appropriately. The following points are important to achieve this objective:

• Needles should not be re-sheathed, bent, broken, removed from disposable syringes or manipulated by hand.
• If a needle sheath must be replaced, place the sheath on a stable surface and slide the needle into it. Do not handle the needle or the sheath.
• Dispose of all sharps immediately after use.
• Sharps containers (impermeable yellow self-sealing plastic boxes) specifically designated for the disposal of sharps are provided in the clinical education centre.
• Sharps containers should be assembled properly with the lid firmly locked onto the container.
• Syringes and attached needles should be discarded immediately after use into the sharps container. Under no circumstances should sharps be put into regular waste.
• Non-sharps should not be placed in the sharps containers
• No attempt should be made to retrieve items from a sharps container or to press down on sharps to create space in the container.
• Sharps containers should be securely sealed when they are ¾ full to prevent overfilling.
• The sealed sharps containers are stored in a safe storage area pending final disposal (incineration).

Activity: Teaching activities within the C. E. C.

Risk:  Trips and falls are a potential problem due to the amount of equipment and the necessity to reorganise rooms for specific teaching sessions. Slips are also a hazard when floors become wet during particular teaching sessions. Areas such as wards, sluice room, bathrooms, community flat, washrooms, and toilets are a particular hazard.
Control: Staff, students and visitors are alerted that the floors are wet and slippery by the use of floor signs and strategically placed warning cones. Cleaning staff are instructed not to use solvent waxes but instead to use the non-slip emulsion type wax.

Staff members and students also have responsibilities in preventing slips, trips, and falls. These include:

• Tidying up trailing cables and removing boxes stored in corridors.
• Applying brakes on beds and other equipment.
• Storing equipment safely when not in use.
• Reporting faulty or damaged equipment / lighting / flooring etc promptly
• Dealing with spillages if they occur
• Adhering to a policy of not eating / drinking in the C.E.C.

Activity: Specialised Equipment

Risk: The Clinical Education Centre has specialised equipment. Inappropriate use of this equipment could result in injury to a person or damage to the equipment. This equipment includes:

Simulation Mannequins	Mannequins
Defibrillator	Lifting Hoist
Patient Monitors	Infusion Pumps
Syringe Pumps	Venesection arms
Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Mannequins	Feeding pumps

Control: Training is provided for staff in the use and care of all equipment. Specialised equipment should only be used for its proper purpose under the supervision of people trained in its proper use. Equipment should be inspected and maintained in line with the manufacturers’ instructions to ensure its continued safety. Any damage or faults should be reported to a member of the C.E.C. staff and dealt with promptly.

May 2009