Safety Policy for Dry Needling
Consent from the patient:
Prior to dry needling explain to the patient the purpose of dry needling, the affects, the precautions and the contra-indications. If they agree to treatment, have them sign an informed consent and file it in their chart.
Glove use:
All clinicians who are treating a patient using dry needling must wash hands thoroughly with soap and water or apply an alcohol-based hand rub and apply gloves. The gloves must be worn during the duration of the dry needling. Gloves must be disposed of in a waste container and hands washed with soap and water immediately following the treatment. Do not use the same gloves for dry needling on multiple patients. Gloves must only be used once and disposed of after the use.
Prep for your patient:
Before you administer the dry needle into your patient, wipe the area to be treated thoroughly with an alcohol pad. Allow the area to dry and then you may begin dry needling. Use a separate alcohol pad to clean each part of the body that you are going to dry needle.
Disposing of used dry needles:
After a needle has been used it should be immediately placed in a sharps container. The sharps container should be puncture resistant and leak-proof with a sealable lid. The sharps container should be properly labeled with a biohazard label and “contains used sharps”. The container should be red and always kept in an upright position close to where you will perform the dry needling on your patient. When the sharps container is filled to the top of the container (no needles can go past the level of the opening), it should be sealed and disposed of at a selected bio waste drop area. Do not over fill the sharps container.
Emergency situations:
If your patient has a vasovagal response or faints in response to dry needling, immediately stop dry needling and position them supine with their legs propped up. If they do not regain consciousness in a minute call 911. If your patient starts to excessively bleed after dry needling apply pressure with sterile gauze immediately until bleeding stops. Make sure to monitor the patient’s vital signs (HR, BP, RR) if excessive blood loss occurs. If excessive bleeding proceeds longer than 5 minutes call 911.
What to do if a needle sticks you:
If you are stuck by a needle immediately flood the exposed area with soap and water. If any splashes of blood go to your nose, mouth or skin wash them with water. If any blood splashes into your eyes irrigate them with clean water or a saline rinse. Report the incident to the clinic manager and seek immediate medical treatment.
References: