Getting stuck

[AmyRN1227]

Hi,

Also today at work when I was taking out someone's port needle, I ended up sticking myself. Not hard, but just a little poke, not any blood or anything. One of the nurses told me to fill out an incident report to be checked for hepatitis, etc. But my charge nurse said it was up to me. Another nurse told me she wouldn't bother. I'd have to go to ER, pee in a cup, have all the blood tests run on me and to tell you the truth I just didn't have the time today, I was so far behind. What are the chances that I could catch hepatitis from this patient or something else for that matter???

Amy:confused: :confused:

[fets99]

Glad you got checked. Interesting P&P here. Where I work, the clients only get tested when a needlestick occurs. I don't ever remember staff getting checked. Thank god all of our clients have been negative. Wonder if this increases rate of reporting needle stick injuries? Just curious if this policy would have made you report at the time?

[Agnus]

Originally posted by fets99

Glad you got checked. Interesting P&P here. Where I work, the clients only get tested when a needlestick occurs. I don't ever remember staff getting checked. Thank god all of our clients have been negative. Wonder if this increases rate of reporting needle stick injuries? Just curious if this policy would have made you report at the time?

I think the reason to test the person who was stuck at the time is to insure you are not already positive.

If you are not tested right away and later test positive there is no way for you to prove that you got it from the needle stick. So, you likely would have trouble making a claim. So it is to you advantage to test right away.