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I was cleaning up the exam room after the physician was done with the procedure, went to put the blade in the sharps container ( that is when you had to pull down on the small door of the sharps container), I put the blade in started to turn around and out of the corner of my eye it looked like the blade was starting to fall out, I quickly turned and put my hand up (out of instinct) and jabbed myself with the blade. That was 5 years ago and doing fine.
That is scary. I am a new nurse and it happened to my friend who is also a new nurse. I say drop the darn things in there and don't put your fingers inside ever. Another RN I know got stuck by a needle sticking out from a dialysis nurse who had left it in there somehow sticking out. All have been fine so far though.
While in nursing school, we volunteered at a local facility to administer flu vaccines. I had an elderly patient with a very small deltoid and dry skin. Somehow the needle ended up going through his deltoid and knicked the thumb that was grabbing the deltoid. That scared me. Luckily, the military facility where I worked at had the ability to quickly draw up labs. Thank god I was negative.
This taught me to take my time!!
pat8585
1 Article; 360 Posts
have you personally had a needle stick and did you get a serious illness?