After receiving the gold standard award last year from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), we celebrated a second straight year of achievement in workplace health and safety. We know how important it is to encourage safe practices in the workplace, establish a secure environment that gives employees peace of mind, and fosters a culture where everyone at the company feels empowered to succeed. This commitment to health and safety is at the heart of the products we research, design, and manufacture.
With ongoing challenges facing the NHS, it’s more important than ever to maintain a safe and comfortable workplace. A recent British Medical Journal study was featured in a Guardian1 article, highlighting how burnout is putting doctors and nurses at greater risk of work-related injuries. Research shows that burnout rates are at their highest since 2018, and as burnout increases, it triggers a chain reaction of safety issues in the workplace.
Heavy workloads and job intensity have been linked to physician fatigue. With 44% of trainees regularly feeling exhausted in the morning and another 26% saying tiredness impacts their ability to provide safe care2, it’s vital to act before both patients and healthcare professionals face a higher risk of injury.
With over 70 years of experience developing medical device solutions for our own brands and for the world’s leading pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies, we understand the challenges of creating devices for new client needs and international markets — always with safety as our top priority. By focusing on real-world impact, we aim to deliver effective medical devices that help protect healthcare professionals from harm and ensure their peace of mind at work.
A few highlights from our range include our next-generation safety pen needle, Unifine SafeControl, which has an active safety shield that covers the needle after use to protect HCPs against needlestick injuries. Our venous blood collection range features Unistik ShieldLock, designed with user comfort in mind and a thumb-activated safety system, so HCPs can perform their jobs confidently and safely.
References
1. Campbell, D. (2022) Burnout in doctors doubles chances of patient safety problems, study finds, The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/sep/14/burnout-in-doctors-doubles-chances-of-patient-safety-problems-study-finds (Accessed: March 6, 2023).
2. Weigl, M. (2022) “Physician Burnout Undermines Safe Healthcare,” BMJ [Preprint]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o2157.