Dirty needle stick...and I'm 20 weeks pregnant...

[tbr96]

I never thought this would happen to me, but I was stuck with a dirty needle and to top it off, I'm 20 weeks pregnant with my first child. Scary, huh! The pt tested negative for HIV/Hepatitis, but theres still that thought that she could still be infected and maybe the virus has not mutated to make her test positive. I took Combivere, which is my employers protocol, which is a pregnancy category C. It was such a freak incident, I was stuck with the needle from an insulin pen, which is pretty much fool-proof, but the pt was very skinny and actually pierced through her skin and into my finger. Prayers and words of encouragement would be great...thanks!

[scarcrimson]

I am an ER tech in a small hospital and one of our duties is to scrub the suture kits that have been used previously, they usually put them in this basin of water with disinfectant to let them soak and then I go in and scrub them with a brush and put them in packages to prepare them for sterilization. Then other night I was cleaning a pair of scissors and my hand slipped and it poked me in the finger! I was so scared!! I went and told the other nurses and filled out my incident report and didi all the blood tests and have to do them until 6 months. I didn't see any blood on the scissors as I was scrubbing them with the brush so I am so very upset about the whole ordeal and just cant get over it. Im so depressed!

[scarcrimson]

I am an ER tech in a small hospital and one of our duties is to scrub the suture kits that have been used previously, they usually put them in this basin of water with disinfectant to let them soak and then I go in and scrub them with a brush and put them in packages to prepare them for sterilization. Then other night I was cleaning a pair of scissors and my hand slipped and it poked me in the finger! I was so scared!! I went and told the other nurses and filled out my incident report and didi all the blood tests and have to do them until 6 months. I didn't see any blood on the scissors as I was scrubbing them with the brush so I am so very upset about the whole ordeal and just cant get over it. Im so depressed!

Can hiv survive in water since it is fluid? Im so scared.

[Jules A, MSN]

I'm so sorry this happened to you, especially now. Wishing you well. Please keep us posted. Jules

[CT Pixie, BSN, RN]

I'm so sorry this happened to you, especially now. Wishing you well. Please keep us posted. Jules

Jules, I just noticed that this was originally posted in April and the OP hasn't had a post since.

I hope all was well with her and her unborn babe....

[jeepgirl, LPN, NP]

if your source patient was negative, i believe that is a good sign. do your follow up and keep your chin up. stress for that baby is worse than your chances for catching these diseases from a needle stick...especially if you had gotten your Hep B's etc.

Why don't people freak out about hep b? would... its the biggest transmitter in the healthcare world. of course HIV is scary, but you can get hep B from a needlestick... get your vaccinations, people!