October 25, 2000

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Nursing students with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) are teaching diabetics the proper way to dispose of used needles to prevent accidental needle sticks and the potential transmission of infections such as HIV and strains of hepatitis. The activity is part of a community education project by the Nursing Student Government Association (SGA) at UAB.

"It is a serious problem that is avoidable if people will make the effort to dispose of needles properly," says Ann Fuqua, president of the Nursing SGA. "Pets also may be stuck accidentally. I'm sure people would take the proper precautions if they knew the potential danger they were exposing others to. This is an important project."

Gail Hill, Ph.D., assistant professor of nursing at UAB, knows first hand the seriousness of the problem. Hill sees patients weekly at a clinic for City of Birmingham employees. "We see at least two sanitation workers a month who have been stuck by needles in the garbage," says Hill. "It's very costly to the City to treat these workers, and it's very serious for the workers, who are subjected to a great deal of anxiety, not knowing for months if they have been infected."

The organization is producing and distributing literature about safe containers for needle disposal to diabetics in the community. "Plastic milk cartoons may be used, or containers may be made by stretching a balloon over the top of a box," says Fuqua. "When away from home, used needles should be carried in a toothbrush travel case or other safe container until they can be disposed of properly."