It probably represents nothing more than American English usage, but I was amused to find on Craigslist an advertisement for a “Sharps Specialist”.

The post is part-time and requires an individual who is “energetic and upbeat”.

But what are the roles of a sharps specialist? I think in the first place one who trains and oversees sharps use, conducts audits to evaluate and monitor sharps safety performance, and investigates in depth any sharps injury or near miss. Not so.

In the event, for this post at Skagit, Washington, Stericycle are seeking a Hospital Sharps Service Specialist to proactively exchange filled Sharps containers in major medical facilities (hospitals, and other large volume medical customers). The Sharps Service Specialist will service all areas of the hospital, and safely cart and consolidate exchanged containers for transport by Stericycle Route Managers.

Let’s not under-estimate the importance of managing sharps bins, be they single-use or re-usable. But a “Sharps Specialist” seems to be misleading and hugely over-eggs the description and job title.