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

I was stuck with an insulin needle that I capped after pulling up the insulin. (Yes I recapped the correct way but needle bent) The needle actually went through the cap and was poking out. I didn't know and I grabbed it and it was stuck in my finger. Not like a little stick but stuck. So I went to pull it out and I somehow ended up receiving 6 units of insulting. Yeah that was fun especially since I already have hypoglycemia.

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NCMcman,

You are right that you have to be vigilant. We all need to be careful when we are handling sharps and yes, you are right about some nurses becoming a little complacent. However, like many have already stated on this thread, nursing is FULL of exposure risks. I myself have not been stuck with a needle. I have, however, been splashed with urine from a tricky clamp on a foley bag and had my cheek/hair/clothing/legs drenched with blood/amniotic fluid during an "explosive" delivery. Neither were my fault, just unlucky. Its disgusting, and it happens. I once worked with an aide who was trying to clean out a bedpan with the little sprayer on the back of the toilet and sprayed herself with diarrhea residue. Thank God she was wearing a plastic isolation gown! She was not rushing, she just held the pan a little to close and the sprayer sent some "stuff" flying. She was totally disgusted. I hate to say it, but you will be exposed to disgusting things in most nursing jobs, especially if you work in a hospital. You will "heavier" patients who are immobile and incontinent. They will soak the entire bed in diarrhea. You will get old men who spill their urinals in the bed...and the floor. Your shoes will feel sticky and you will cringe imagining what you are walking in. You will see family members who ignore the "see nurse" sign and go into a c-diff room with no gown or gloves, and know darn well they touched the patient and everything in the room, and come out trying to touch everything in the hall. And they will be mad when you tell them they need to thoroughly was their hands before coming out of the room. My point is hospitals are gross, you are exposed to things all of the time and that is part of nursing.

Also, you may be vigilant about need safety, but be aware that your co workers may not always be. A lot of accidents can happen in emergencies, particularly ones that end up being "organized chaos". I had a near miss needle stick injury when my coworker rushed her patient to our OR for an emergency D&C. I went to change the bed for her and almost stuck myself on an 18G starter IV she accidentally left in the bed. I don't believe for a minute that she was throwing needles around complacently, it just happens. Her patient was hemorrhaging, and she was moving quickly. And you may find yourself one day as the nurse in her situation starting an emergency IV and then jumping to the next task at hand and forgetting you sat your starter needle to the side. It is good to be vigilant, but know that emergencies are high stress and accidents can happen. I have been in OR and seen surgeons incorrectly hand back loaded needle holders to the scrub. Some doctors don't believe in cleaning up after themselves at all and they will leave you exposed needles to clean up for them.

The good news is most IV starters now are fancy and have plastic sheaths that cover the needle once you are done. Most needles have safety you can utilize with one click and IV systems are now needless. Even drug companies are getting better about this, medications like Lovenox and Arixtra come in syringes that, if used correctly, are close to impossible to stick yourself with.

The job in and of itself is risky. I personally feel safer starting IVs on a patient than being in a "droplet" or "airborne" isolation room! Don't get me started on that or I will scare you right away from nursing! lol. Sorry, I wrote a book!

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God, I know it's a nasty job, and I'm not even sure why I want to do it, really. Why does anyone really want to do anything, I guess, rite? I have an old friend whos been an LPN for 30 years. If it's nasty she's seen it (ALL OF IT) I told her why I want to get into nursing (to help folks out) and she said these days it's not even about helping people out anymore. She says it's all paperwork and things like that. I think though, even though I'll be surrounded by extremely disgusting stuff everywhere I turn, it's still better than having to endure this life that I have now. Sure, where I work there are a lot of down times, and I can read, or play a game on my laptop, or watch tv. However, the money is so awful, I'm not even sure it's minimum wage. I don't want that for myself. I want to be in a profession that is always going to have a use for me. I considered IT, but they lay people off left and rite, there. I considered getting into Law enf, but that's probably more gross than nursing LOL. Anyway, I think If I can make this work, I can really be good at it. I want to be a travel RN. I want to see the country, and meet new people, and work in different hospitals. In order to do that, I am going to just have to "disconnect" those feelings of disgust that I have, and I'm ready to do that. Anyway, thanks for listening to me :)

Josh

NCMcman,

You are right that you have to be vigilant. We all need to be careful when we are handling sharps and yes, you are right about some nurses becoming a little complacent. However, like many have already stated on this thread, nursing is FULL of exposure risks. I myself have not been stuck with a needle but I have had near misses. I have, however, been splashed with urine from a cooky clamp on a foley bag and had my cheek/hair/clothing/legs soaked with blood/amniotic fluid during an "explosive" delivery. Neither were my fault, just unlucky. Its disgusting, and it happens. I worked with an aide who was trying to clean out a bedpan with the little sprayer on the back of the toilet and sprayed herself with diarrhea residue. Thank God she was wearing a plastic isolation gown! She was not rushing either, the sprayer from the toiler was just powerful enough that it sent some nastiness flying. I hate to say it, but you will be exposed to disgusting things in most nursing jobs. Especially if you work in a hospital. My favorites were the "heavier" patients who were weak and immobile who soiled their entire bed in diarrhea. I wouldn't recommend trying to change that bedding alone. Even if they were not in isolation I donned a plastic gown because when the situation is difficult to clean up it is hard to say how you might possibly and unintentionally expose yourself...that is just one example I am sure you are aware of.

Also, you may be vigilant, but be aware that your co workers may not always be. A lot of accidents can happen in unorganized emergencies. I had a near miss when my coworker rushed her patient to our OR for an emergency D&C. I went to change the bed for her and I almost stuck myself on an 18G starter IV she accidentally left in the bed while starting the patient's second IV. There it was, under the sheet. It happens. And you may find yourself one day as the nurse in her situation starting an emergency IV and then jumping to the next task, forgetting you sat your starter needle to the side. It is good to be vigilant, but know that emergencies are high stress and accidents can happen. I have been in OR and seen surgeons hand loaded needle holders back to the nurse improperly or just throw them back onto the scrubs tray to figure out. Needles have been left on our delivery carts hidden under bowls or drapes. Rarely, thankfully, but it can and does happen.

The good news is most IV starters now are fancy and have plastic sheaths that cover the needle once you are done. Most needles have safety you can utilize with one click and IV systems are now needless. Even drug companies are getting better about this, medications like lovenox and arixtra come in syringes that, if used correctly, are close to impossible to stick yourself with.

The job in and of itself is risky. I personally feel safer starting IVs on a patient than being in a "droplet" or "airborne" isolation room! Don't get me started on that or I will scare you right away from nursing! lol.

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Specializes in Aged care, disability, community.

I've had 2 sharp injuries, one was after drawing up insulin, I was pulling the syringe out of the vial and managed to stab myself (I still have no idea how that happened). The second one was on a used razor that another AIN had placed unsheathed in a resident's shower caddy and it was hiding blade up underneath the bottle of shampoo I picked up that had fallen over and was leaking all over everything.

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I've had 2 sharp injuries, one was after drawing up insulin, I was pulling the syringe out of the vial and managed to stab myself (I still have no idea how that happened). The second one was on a used razor that another AIN had placed unsheathed in a resident's shower caddy and it was hiding blade up underneath the bottle of shampoo I picked up that had fallen over and was leaking all over everything.

I hope you provided someone with a good verbal thrashing :)

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Specializes in Aged care, disability, community.

Well no, because I don't know who did it, but management tore strips off of all care staff because of not following policy for the safe usage of wet razors.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
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.

I still consider nursing in the medical field but we are now off topic.

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All you can do is your best. You are only human. If it were to happen, bleed out your site, and report it right away to get proper tests done. You can't have an absolute mindset. I WILL NEVER do that. You don't know what the future holds, all you can do is your best.

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I would say that we have gotten rid of 90% of needles these days. Few places use needles for insulin now that those pens are used. No more needles going into IV tubing, etc. Of course, lots of sharps in the OR. So the chances of getting stuck are less but.........it happens.

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Specializes in Public Health, L&D, NICU.
I feel like I have put my foot in my mouth with this thread. This was definitely not my intention. I just have concerns. Thank you for all the great posts. Your all heroes. Keep up the great work and don't ever loose patience with people like me. This isn't pizza delivery, it's a serious job. Pre nurse students like myself need your help. I'm very thankful for this site AND all of you.

Don't worry about anything you've said, you're fine. You haven't put a foot wrong, or not that I've seen.

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I was once getting rid of tons of sharps used in a procedure and always put them one by one into a needle box using these long clamps. Lo and behold, one slipped out (I must have tossed thousands of needles in 15 years this way) and fell and can you imagine my reaction, when it went thru my shoe and sock and into my foot? So, one never knows.

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Specializes in CVICU, TSBICU, PACU.

I've been stuck with a (clean, thank goodness) needle before, after a patient got combative with me.

Always keep a step ahead of your patient, get help holding down limbs if necessary, especially if you have to do IVs or butterfly blood draws where you can get stuck a bit easier if they decide to spaz out on you

All depends on the area you're working in too...psych, ER and ICU I'd say have the highest risk...

More common though are flushing those feeding tubes..it's like being shot...only with stomach/intestinal contents...always get a good grip, especially if you have a suspicion it may be clogged (and if it doesn't flush, check your tube clamps!) All of the above learned the hard way :yuck:

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