Removing needle from syringe

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello everyone:

I'm a Nursing Student and was wondering if anyone had a needle stick after being exposed to a known HIV+ patient.

What are the chances of one being infected after such exposure. I know it's part of the job but have been stressing over this for quite some time.

-GM

Specializes in Ortho, Med surg and L&D.
Scary......As a Phleb I have known a few people who have stuck themselves with HIV+ p.t.'s (one p.t.was at end term) and she turned out+ :( The odds, however, are very very small. Its very dangerous work as a p.t. could be all calm one second them FILP OUT the next as soon as you get the needle in them ( I average 50 p.t.s a day not including the traumas so im at huge risk). I would advise against ARV's as there are no long term studies of their effects, and i would only take them if you know the source is positive. A doc basically told me ARV's are extremely toxic btw.

Hi,

Ten years ago was when I had my needle scratch, (about a half in along my thumb from a blood filled syringe-since learned to 'screw twist' to loosen).

I was so naive I never found out the patient's hep c status, all is well though for A and B and HIV.

When it happend to me the hospital had just lost the first nurse there that was a vocationally aquired HIV so everyone was on heightened alert for protocol. When I went down to the ER the nurses asked if I wanted the AZT. I was too new to HIV to know so I finally looked on in the eye and asked her, "what would you do if I were you?" She shook her head no and I chose not to get it.

Pt turned out to be negative but, to this day I do not know why I didn't walk over to the nurse's station and read his chart!

Gen

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Hello everyone:

I'm a Nursing Student and was wondering if anyone had a needle stick after being exposed to a known HIV+ patient.

What are the chances of one being infected after such exposure. I know it's part of the job but have been stressing over this for quite some time.

-GM

My nephew was exposed to HIV infected blood. He is a Medical Technologist in a lab. Not sure exactly what happened, but my guess was that he was holding the hematocrit tube too tight and it broke. Cut through his gloves and fingers. He was immediately put on HIV meds. They made him DEATHLY sick, but so far his test have all come back negative for HIV. It's been about 8 months since this happened.

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Scary......As a Phleb I have known a few people who have stuck themselves with HIV+ p.t.'s (one p.t.was at end term) and she turned out+ :( The odds, however, are very very small. Its very dangerous work as a p.t. could be all calm one second them FILP OUT the next as soon as you get the needle in them ( I average 50 p.t.s a day not including the traumas so im at huge risk). I would advise against ARV's as there are no long term studies of their effects, and i would only take them if you know the source is positive. A doc basically told me ARV's are extremely toxic btw.

I'm a phlebotomist and I SOOOOO know what you mean about someone flipping out! I have a very close call with a patient one day. I always anchor the skin real tight below where I'm going to stick and he jerked so hard that the needle came out and BELOW where I was anchoring. If he had hit my hand or arm, I would have gotten stuck. He said he was sorry and that he "always" does that. :angryfire It would have been nice if he had told me prior to that and I would have had someone come hold his arm down! Another time, I had someone rip a butterfly out. It flew into the air and landed on my gloved hand. If that had landed needle down, it would have gone through the glove.

Sometimes things happen no matter how careful you are.

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MLOS, he drove by and saw the same tape still stuck to the door handle. The "sharp" was never confirmed but I keep telling him that if, in fact, there was a needle - someone must've noticed it by then. His response - What if' no one did?

It's a little shocking that some people think this is a "prank." We're obviously trying to get to the bottom of this and have been researching chances of transmission and the only news out there in terms of needle sticks pertains to those in the medical field.

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GM, you're a nursing student. You've studied at least one semester's worth, right? What do you think would be the normal reaction from someone who thinks he's been stuck with a dirty needle? Especially if that same person thinks the needle is still there a week later?

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I am not a nurse nor even a student yet but why don't all syringes have safety covers you can push down after use? Are they expensive? What I am talking about I have seen on Depo Lupron shots. I used to give myself a shot once a month and would have to push down on a lever to get the cover down, although occassionally it was tough. I know the syringes I have seen used for allergy shots, insulin, or TB do not have a protective cover.

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Specializes in jack of all trades, master of none.

"he drove by and saw the same tape still stuck to the door handle"

must have been some really big tape...

i don't think the thread is a prank. i think the "friend" is trying to pull one.

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Actually, it was some clear masking tape wrapped around in multiple layers. There is only one door to the entrance of the clinic and you can see it when entering the plaza where the clinic is at. Literally, it's about 25 feet away.

I really doubt my friend is making this up because he is in shock. His family/girlfriend have been calling me to see what's up and I'm lost and don't know what to say...

You want to say that yes, he might have it due to the 0.3% chance.

Then, you don't want to say anything so others don't start freaking out as well either...

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Why didn't he tell someone at this clinic?

That would be the FIRST thing that someone should do. If he's so worried, then tell him to cal and talk to them about it. Let them give him the statistics and all. This doesn't make any sense at all.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

OK, so this tape was enough the he could see it from the street, driving by, a week later. Now, if this was a case of someone taping a sharp to the front door handle and it's still there A WEEK LATER, don't you think that someone else would have been stuck with it and maybe they would have had the right idea by telling someone on staff at the clinic about it? This leads me to believe that it wasn't a sharp and your "friend" is just making mountains out of molehills.

The part that I'm having trouble with is that a supposedly responsible adult had this happen to him and didn't take action to ensure that it wouldn't happen to anyone else. The majority of the people would have brought it to the attention of the staff so the potential danger to others could be reoved while an investigation took place.

tvccrn

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I am not a nurse nor even a student yet but why don't all syringes have safety covers you can push down after use? Are they expensive? What I am talking about I have seen on Depo Lupron shots. I used to give myself a shot once a month and would have to push down on a lever to get the cover down, although occassionally it was tough. I know the syringes I have seen used for allergy shots, insulin, or TB do not have a protective cover.

Many syringes don't come with a needle attached so you can choose the correct needle size yourself, or remove the needle to attach the syringe to an IV port. Or you may need one type of needle to pull the drug up, and another type to inject the patient.

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The part that I'm having trouble with is that a supposedly responsible adult had this happen to him and didn't take action to ensure that it wouldn't happen to anyone else. The majority of the people would have brought it to the attention of the staff so the potential danger to others could be reoved while an investigation took place.

tvccrn

My point exactly. GM, you never answered my question above.

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