Needle Stopper after Arterial Blood Gas Sampling Comparison between Clay and Rubber Cap

Abstract

Background: During the arterial blood gas (ABG) sampling process , a rubber cap is commonly used to be a needle stopper for preventing air leakage. This recapping step takes risk for needle injury of healthcare workers. The author has invented the clay cap to reduce this risk.
Objective : To compare two types of needle stopper, between a clay cap and a rubber cap, during ABG sampling process in term of healthcare workers’ satisfaction.
Material and method : Cross sectional analytical study was conducted in two groups of population; provider and user. The provider group consisted of 55 nurse-aids. The user group comprised 81 ICU nurses, 22 medical students and 7 laboratory technicians. All of them were demonstrated the assembly and operating technique of both types of needle stopper till clearly understand. After 2 weeks of practice, the subjects evaluated their satisfaction and selected the stopper type they preferred. The data
was analyzed by chi-square test.
Results : In the provider group, most of nurse-aids significantly preferred clay cap than rubber cap in term of its ease of use, safety and assembly technique (p <0.05). In the user group including all of laboratory technicians, most of ICU nurses and medical students significantly preferred clay cap for its ease of use, safety and operating technique. Finally all groups of population predominantly selected the clay cap to be stopper of choice significantly more than rubber cap, i.e. 67.3% of providers, 92.6% of ICU nurses, 90.9% of medical students and 100% of laboratory technicians (p <0.05).
Conclusion : The clay cap was more appropriate than rubber cap for being needle stopper during ABG blood sampling. Both provider and user satisfied and preferred its ease of use and safety. The clay cap should be used to reduce the risk of needle injury in healthcare worker