Is it just me or?? Are needle stick injuries more serious than people make it out to be..

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So to start I'm a new nurse. I am also pregnant. Yay.

Alright all was well and dandy up until a few days ago when I sustained my first needlestick injury. Big bummer. I reported it and what not. I work for a newer home health company and apparently this is only the second time they've had to deal with this situation. Good for them but they really dont have their *** together to say the least. They sent me to the clinic. Initial blood was drawn. Due to the patient being "low risk" and since it was a subq shot, I was not started on pep, which was OK with me at the time considering I am pregnant. I also found out that my hep b shot has worn off? Because I am no longer immune like I was 2 years ago when I got my titer for the nursing program. I decided it would be proper protocol to get the patient tested as well.. no one at the office I work for seems to think so, however myself and another nurse have bent over backwards to get this testing done. It's been 4 days and the patient still hasn't been tested but I guess it's in the works. I dont know and to be honest I dont even want to ask because I already think they think I'm bugging them. Everytime I communicate with the office about it it is difficult to get a reply and they are rather short in their responses when they do reply. To be honest.. I feel like a burden to them.. which is awful to feel.. anyways my DON says "oh this happens to all nurses at some point" and stuff along those lines. Which isn't true of course but I guess she was trying to make me feel better? I dont know. Either way their actions really are starting to frustrate me and it really seems like they think I'm making a bigger deal about this than it really is. But.. this is a big deal? Maybe they think they patient is "low risk" but can anyone really be sure..

Dont want to make this longer than it already is but... What do you guys think? Needlestick injuries are pretty serious.. or so I thought.

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It should not take 4 days and still be in the process of “getting the patient tested”. He will either consent to it or he won’t. Sounds more like they’re trying to keep it quiet more than anything else. There has to be a protocol in place to follow for this sort of thing.

After getting things resolved, I’d be looking into a more reputable employer. Some of these newer, smaller home health companies are scary.

And no, there’s no way to know for sure if someone is low/high risk. I screen people everyday as part of my job. Some of the results are rather unexpected but they do occur from time to time.

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Right. He did consent. It's been an issue of who will order it. I honestly feel like they just dont care about me or my safety and they dont know how to handle the situation in general.

And yes that is what is scary. You really never know who is at risk.

Thanks for the reply

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Specializes in NICU/Mother-Baby/Peds/Mgmt.
On 3/11/2020 at 8:31 PM, guest1142824 said:

Right. He did consent. It's been an issue of who will order it. I honestly feel like they just dont care about me or my safety and they dont know how to handle the situation in general.

And yes that is what is scary. You really never know who is at risk.

Thanks for the reply

If he's consented then I'd be bugging them too. It'll take a provider 20 seconds to order. If they're still screwing around consider telling them you'll get a lawyer. And start looking around for another job and after you leave report them to the Labor Board, OSHA, JC and whoever else you can think of. Get documentation but while you're still working for them. Yes, it happens to many many nurses but yes, it's a big deal.

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