Dirty Needle Stick

I'm so sorry that happened to you, it's a very scary experience.

Did you get the stick because the pt. was being combative?

I had that happen to me as well. It's very scary, and all I can tell you is what the ER doc told me when I had my testing done: that the chance of getting infected with the dirty needle of someone who is (fill in disease) positive is less than 1%, and that is assuming that not only was the needle a hollow core with blood in it, but also that there was pressure on the needle enough to push the blood into your system (not like a little prick, and then pull it out quickly, but more like being pushed in and held there)
I don't know if that helps or not, but it was a big relief for me to hear that... good luck to you, and let us know when your results are in.

I can understand your concern. Very scary. I never had a needle stick. I did see a nurse, give insulin and recap, the needle went through the cap and into her finger. The patient had different medical issues. The nurse ended up okay. But yes, very scary.

Gosh, I hope you are okay. I can't even imagine what the feeling is like but I'm rooting for you.

i understand how you feel. it happened to me last year. i was completely in shock. i talked to the infectious disease docs and told me the same thing. very slim <1% change of getting infected from dirty needle. i just got a rapid hiv screen and hepatitis screen. came back negative. just have to get screened up to 1.5 years after incident.

I had that happen to me too and I was so scared. At least I remembered what to do if I did get stuck with a needle. Thank God everything came back neg.. I could not believe that my doctor told me not to get tested because I would probably be okay. I think told him the Regent Health District wanted me tested and he did.

I was stuck with a trocar needle some scrub tech placed into a regular garbage bag while cleaning an OR room back in 2002. It was a sinking feeling no doubt. The amount of anxiety was awful. I rushed to the sink and poured every surgical soap we had on the stick while pushing out the blood. Then I took one of those little sponge brushes with chlorhexidine and scrubbed like crazy. I went to the ER and they took my blood and got the pts blood, which came back neg for anything like HIV or Hep. I was really worried because the hospital mainly served those in low income communites.