An employee at a NJ surgical center who was stuck with a contaminated needle was not counseled about what to do in the wake of the injury, was not tested in a timely manner for disease and was not provided with appropriate medicine to help him avoid contracting a disease, according to OSHA inspectors, who have cited the Health East Ambulatory Surgical Center for 10 serious violations.

A “time-out” instituted to eliminate mistakes during surgery is not being complied with by a significant number of medical personnel, according to a new study. “Methodology and Bias in Assessing Compliance with a Surgical Safety Checklist,” published in the February issue of Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, found that although surgical safety checklists -- such as the perioperative time-out -- have been shown to improve performance on a variety of patient safety measures, some of the items on it are being skipped.