Has anyone ever been careless and gotten stuck?

Nurses General Nursing

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Has anyone ever not been paying attention and gotten stuck with a needle? I am starting pre nursing this fall. I want to be a nurse, but getting stuck with a needle is unacceptable to me. If it's about rushing, I won't do that. It's not our fault the hospital doesn't want to hire enough RNs to keep the place going. We can do as much as we can, but I am not going to rush and be "unsafe" What if any things can I do to ENSURE that this does not happen. Thank You very much.

Josh

Specializes in Oncology.
Im bugging out just thinking about it. Not throwing any blame, but looking back on it, is there anything you could/would have done differently? I expect your a very competent nurse! I know mistakes happen, but I guess we just need to learn from those, rite? :)

Thanks. I do generally think of myself as fairly competent. In retrospect, I should have put the needle right in a sharps container or at least separate from the rest of my garbage. I thought I would remember that it was there. The device I was using had no form of safety shield/guard. In my paperwork I had to so regarding the incident I recommended this change and we've gotten new IV's since. It was a hectic night and I wanted to get her meds started without losing access again.

Agreed.

You are going to run a risk of getting in contact with bodily fluids. But with the right PPE you should be good. Mistakes happen though.

If you have some type of susceptibility to illness maybe you need to reconsider your career choice.

I appreciate that, but I don't think I want to reconsider my career choice based on the fact that I want to be super vigilant in not contacting commutable diseases. I imagine when you have been a nurse for so long, you could easily become complacent. Remember, complacency can get you killed. I work as an armed guard in a very dangerous place. Weird stuff can happen at any second, but the day I am not watching whats going on, I could be killed. I want to take some of these things that I have learned over the last 11 1/2 years with me into the med field. :)

Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.
I appreciate that, but I don't think I want to reconsider my career choice based on the fact that I want to be super vigilant in not contacting commutable diseases. I imagine when you have been a nurse for so long, you could easily become complacent. Remember, complacency can get you killed. I work as an armed guard in a very dangerous place. Weird stuff can happen at any second, but the day I am not watching whats going on, I could be killed. I want to take some of these things that I have learned over the last 11 1/2 years with me into the med field. :)

Just so you know going in - you are NOT entering the 'med field'. You are entering the NURSING field, they are two separate and distinct disciplines. With their own bodies of knowledge and scopes of practice.

A lot of people who are super careful (not careless) get stuck with sharps or get body fluid exposures. There is no way to ensure it will never happen unless you are working with cadavers. People move, wiggle, flinch, jump, flail etc all the time. Our patients can be VERY unpredictable. It is not complacency or carelessness that can cause an exposure, it is unpredictability and ever changing situations.

Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.

I 'stuck myself' once. I don't feel it was because I was rushing--it just happened. I replayed the events in my mind and I don't think there was anything I could do to prevent it. Thankfully it was a low risk stick and the patient was negative for everything.

I don't have statistics to back this up (so don't ask ;)), but I am guessing that I have much greater risk of getting maimed/killed in an MVC while driving to/from work that I do from getting a communicable dz. from a needle stick while at work.

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
I was talking to my mother, and she said that they are using all kinds of safety needles now and what not. Is this true? LOL, I just dont wanna get stuck with a needle. I don't mind cleaning up puke or wiping a highknee, but my goodness, there has to be a line hehe..I like your avatar by the way.. It's adorable..
Under the best of circumstances you can get stuck.....it is a hazzard of the job. The highest times that nurses get stuck is when they are new, nervous, hurried, or medication an agitated patient. You just have to be careful. However.....getting stuck with a needle is NOT the only way to be exposed to blood and body fluids.

I use hemostats to dispose ALL of my needles...I do NOT use my hands to put needles into the container....wear clear lens type fashion glasses at all times if you don't wear glasses....it helps with the spit when agitated patients spit....and a confused little old lady will spit!! when angry and confused.

The CDC has extensive information on needle sticks that is very helpful. You are at a greater rick for Hep C than HIV but the infection rate is small. CDC - Bloodborne Infectious Diseases - Needlesticks and Sharps Injuries - NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topic

Good luck!

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
I appreciate that, but I don't think I want to reconsider my career choice based on the fact that I want to be super vigilant in not contacting commutable diseases. I imagine when you have been a nurse for so long, you could easily become complacent. Remember, complacency can get you killed. I work as an armed guard in a very dangerous place. Weird stuff can happen at any second, but the day I am not watching whats going on, I could be killed. I want to take some of these things that I have learned over the last 11 1/2 years with me into the med field. :)
I have been a nurse for 35 years......the danger of me getting stuck is the same as it ever was....actually I am safer becasue gloves are use in all aspect of patient care...where they weren't when I went to school.

We did everything except sterile procedures without gloves when I graduated school.

It's a calculated risk.

Specializes in Public Health, L&D, NICU.

I had a needle stick due to carelessness, but not my carelessness. Another nurse (the nurse educator, of all people) came in to help me and got my umbilical cord blood for me. This is typically done with an 18 g needle. She then threw the needles into the placenta pan. I'm pretty sure she did this because she couldn't get to the sharps container because of all the space-wasting interns, residents, and med students standing around and gawking, but I digress. At this facility (in 2003) the 18 g needles didn't have safety shields on them. I was doing my after-delivery clean up, picked up the placenta (with gloves on, of course) to dispose of it, and "found" the needle that was hiding under the placenta. I had a huge hole in my glove and finger from a very bloody needle. I freaked. And I had to have labs done for 6 months after that. Throw in the fact that I was a travel nurse, which just made things even more complicated as far as labs, and it made for a miserable part of my life.

Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.
I have been a nurse for 35 years......the danger of me getting stuck is the same as it ever was....actually I am safer becasue gloves are use in all aspect of patient care...where they weren't when I went to school.

We did everything except sterile procedures without gloves when I graduated school.

It's a calculated risk.

I always find it humorous the reaction of younger nurses when I share that gloves were for 'special occasions' only back in the day. :)

Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

Yes...fortunately for me, it was a sterile needle. But it was a big wake-up call for me to remember neither to be careless nor rush, even if it's in the middle of a code. Especially since Hep C seems to run a little rampant in the CD/detox population.

My bad needle stick was from a big fat liver biopsy needle cleverly concealed in the drapes and left behind by the resident who did the procedure in my room. As I picked them up it jammed right into my right palm. Bought myself a load of IM gamma globulin (the tx of choice in those years) and about 30 years of worry. No hep C yet, as far as I know.

Specializes in Oncology.
My bad needle stick was from a big fat liver biopsy needle cleverly concealed in the drapes and left behind by the resident who did the procedure in my room. As I picked them up it jammed right into my right palm. Bought myself a load of IM gamma globulin (the tx of choice in those years) and about 30 years of worry. No hep C yet, as far as I know.

Was the resident re-educated on safety procedures, or was that against the culture back then?

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