SAFE-CAP – A Double - Barrelled Safe Recapping Syringe

Sir, Handling of syringes has become an inevitable aspect of anaesthesiology. Recapping of syringes during elective as well as emergency situations is the major reason for needle stick injuries leading to potential exposure to drugs and the spread of blood-borne viral infections amongst anaesthesiologists.[1] Occupational Safety and Health Administration does not recommend recapping of needles, in general. In instances, in which recapping is inevitable, devices such as self-sheathing needles are the preferred method.[2] The most commonly used method to recap is ‘one-handed scoop’ method.[3] Here, the difficulties encountered are high chances of the cap falling while scooping and failure to recap successfully in the first attempt due to parallax error.[4] The other methods include scooping using a sterile 50 mL centrifuge tube or styrofoam rack, placing the uncapped needle inside a conical tube temporarily instead of recapping.[5] The downfalls include loose attachments of the needle with the cap/covering. There are also commercial needle-recapping devices available for this purpose, which are mainly hypodermic syringes. Blunting of the needle after use has been advised, but still, it can cause injury on contact. My innovation, ‘SAFE CAP’ – a prototype model for safe recapping of intravascular/muscular needle syringes involves the double-barrel technique. The materials required are: a syringe barrel with a flange one size bigger than the one for which the cap is to be made (i.e., for capping 5 cc syringe, a 10 cc barrel with flange is required), a rubber seal from the same barrel removed from the plunger and the needle cap. The safe-cap is made by fixing the rubber seal at the distal end of the barrel and the needle cap is attached to the end of the rubber seal by adhesives. The advantages of this ‘safe-cap’ are: easier recapping by scooping technique due to a broader base with the narrower needle cap fixed at the end as shown in Figures 1 and 2 in the form of a ‘Tower’; lesser self-pricks due to parallax error; higher success rates of recapping during the first attempt and less chances for blood spillage during uncapping. The disadvantages include more consumption of plastic for its manufacturing. My experience with the safe-cap is the increased confidence while recapping without the fear of pricking and easier scooping technique.Figure 1: ‘SAFE-CAP’ – Sketch diagramFigure 2: ‘SAFE-CAP’ – Working prototype modelFinancial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.