Needle Stick

That moment, when you feel the prick of the needle on your finger, is the worst, isn't it?

I had a needle stick from a HIV/Hep C patient with a large bore (18g) needle. I took 2 anti-viral drugs (5 pills total) every day for a month. If you haven't already, go ahead and ask the occupational MD who is following you for a prescription for Zofran. The prophylaxis didn't make me sick at first, but after a few days I had severe nausea and vomiting. The MD called in a script for compazine, which worked well, but made me sleepy. With Zofran, you can work and be nausea free!

Hang in there. The first few days were terrible for me - going over every detail, imagining the worse case scenarios - but the odds are slim for contracting either HIV or Hep C.

With your stick being from a butterfly without blood in it, your odds are even slimmer. Six months is a long time to wait, though. I'm not quite at the 6 month mark yet, but I'm getting there. So far, for me, all my tests have been negative.

If you need to chat or need some moral support away from the public board, feel free to send me a message.

oh my gosh yes, I'm surprised you haven't had more responses. Luckily today, we have so many safety sets that we are so much more protected. Our butterflies now retract, get your facility to do a "root cause analysis" on your exposure and then justify the scant added cost of these.

Before the blood transfer devices, we used to use needles, 18 gauge to transfer blood from IV's to the tubes. In a hurry, I had plummeted a contaminated HIV/hepatitis filled needle into my thumb. (again before the blood transfer devices). Had antivirals to take, liver enzyme monitoring and condoms with my husband for 6 months.

Anyone who doubts our salary, should spend a day talking to me... and I won't get off on a tangent... but the risk is real, but if you really have a potential, the person that "exposed you" has blood drawn, if it's negative, you just get blood drawn at regular intervals, If it's a positive. like mine, you're on meds and it's a difficult mess. The issue is your patient, get them tested, we have a policy to do so and find out your risk factor.

Thanks for all your advice/comments. I just called and all my labs are negative and I hope they stay that way!

I did this just at the end of last year. I drew blood from someone and the safety cap of the needle jammed and somehow the point of the needle, with blood on it, ended up in my thumb. First time in 25 years I'd ever done that.

Luckily for me, the patient was not high risk, but I still had to have the blood testing and so on. The patient's blood tests for Hep and HIV were clear as well. It's an awful feeling, isn't it?