Keep used needle?

[luvnursingluv]

Has anyone heard of saving a used needle for testing? My employment scolding me for not saving a used needle to have it tested because i had a needlestick injury

According to my place of employment i could of saved time and money. However 1.) treatment must start immediately to 72 hours so that in that time, testing on the needle might still be in the process and 2.) i would test anyways because the virus could be removed during transfer to my skin or transfer to a container. My place of employment also told met that

they might only approve testing once. Can they legally do this through work man comp? What i need help with is finding a legitimate

site stating i should not have kept the needle i tried searching and using cdc but can only get verbal confirmment that

a used needle should not be saved. I feel like they made me feel bad for something that was not my fault.

I am a student nurse however this incident did not occured at my other job in a pharmacy. Here is the deal i stuck myself on a needle

normally i would not worry. We are a pharmacy our job is to DISPENSE medication however people meaning pharmacists

do take items back without checking and throw them back on the shelf. So you ask? why would they take insulin needles back

they come in a box of 100 with 10 packages inside someone could of just opened the box looked quickly and threw it on the shelf. People return

things for various reasons it does not happen a lot but it does. So should i be scared? I work in an area where there is a high aids population but

the fact this needle could be clean or dirty, the fact it may be sitting on the shelf the fact that we don't take back items a lot

the fact that i was not in clinical transfering blood makes me feel okay but then again i cried for hours today. I should of examined the needle

for blood, and looked at the needle closely but i was so scared i just tossed it. I know better now.

[EricJRN, MSN, RN]

I don't have any concrete evidence or links for you, but here is some logic you might think about. You already stuck yourself once. I can't imagine anyone wanting you to keep the needle around - it creates the possibility of a second stick! How were you supposed to secure the needle to ensure that no further sticks (to yourself or others) would occur?

This whole case illustrates why most pharmacies don't restock returns of meds or supplies once you leave with them.

Try not to worry too much. Good luck in your search for more information.

[canuckeh!]

It is very anxiety provoking to have a needle poke of any sort. I cannot answer your question with a reference but our lab told us it was useless to save the needle as they could not do testing on the amount of residue that might be left in or on the needle.

Try to relax as your exposure carries a minimal (although not zero) risk.

You make a valid point though. Even if you had kept the needle they would have had to do the testing anyway.

Phone your local compensation board and ask them your question about the threat not to do more than one set of testing.

Use this incident to improve the handling of sharps in your worksite. All sharps retuned from customers should be considered used and disposed of safely in an approved sharps container. There is no excuse for a pharmacy to have such slack procedures that they put employees at risk.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I've had one needlestick in my 15 year career and that was in January this year. I can say with certainty it is not our policy to save the needle. We test the patient and ourselves.

If the patient is unknown and there is a way to test the needle, then I can see saving the needle. But still you can test yourself and find out.

You would think an employer would have more interest in the safety of their employees and be willing to test you for the three times.

Sorry, I can't provide a site either. But you can probably find what to do in needlestick injuries in a policy manual somewhere.

You can't rewrite the past, so don't shed any tears over what you did and what you should have done. Deal with the hear and now.

[adria37]

The place where I work had a nurse get stuck and during our meeting they said she should have kept the needle and the gloves that she had on.