Mechanical Design and Analysis of Safety Medical Syringe for Needlestick Injury Prevention

The occurrence of needlestick injury especially among healthcare workers and patients is really significant since long time ago. Apart from improper syringe usage management, the reuse syringe components and unsafe sharp wastes management also contribute to the incidence of unexpected injuries. It was reported that one of every 250 accidental needlesticks may result in the infection of human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV), Hepatitis B (HBV), or Hepatitis C (HCV). Based on the user needs identification, promising safety mechanism and handling as well as single use of the syringe are of major interests. Thus, the aim of the study was to design and develop a new syringe that completed with safety and ergonomic features to avoid the related injuries. Primary and secondary data had been collected through interview, observation and journal articles with a series of design concept development, three-dimensional (3-D) modelling, and computational technical evaluation stages were then undertaken. A number of mock-ups and prototype of the product was produced via rapid prototyping process which is 3-D printing approach using acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) as the material. The results showed that the proposed design of safety syringe is satisfactory in terms of its structural strength and working principle. Further enhancement may be necessary to strengthen the role of the material and needle cap in compensating the function of the syringe.