Help with Potential Needle Stick

Nurses Safety

Published

This is embarrassing to post but, I am very anxious about a potential needle stick. About 5+ minutes after administering a subQ insulin injection I felt some pain in my index finger. I examined it and there were no signs of broken skin, discolored marks etc. Did I stick myself with a needle and just not realize it??

By the time I felt the pain, I had already de-gloved, performed hand hygiene and was getting meds for my next patient! There were no issues during administration but I was on "autopilot" when engaging the safety/disposing in sharps container so I can't clearly remember/envision that part. I forgot about it for the rest of my shift, but now I am starting to worry. Basically, since I can't clearly remember if I did anything differently when putting the needle in the sharps, I'm worried that I missed something!

P.S. I did have an actual needle stick a few months ago, which was terrifying! But now, I'm worried about something happening without me noticing.

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.

My guess is that if you did not feel anything at the time nor visualize any mark on your skin, then you did not stick yourself. If you still need reassurance, I would go to employee health and see what they say.

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Specializes in Varied.

Go to EOH

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Update: I went to employee health just in case. The patient was checked and all of their labs were negative.

Thank you for your responses!

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Specializes in Varied.
Update: I went to employee health just in case. The patient was checked and all of their labs were negative.

Thank you for your responses!

Great

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