Needlestick ugh...

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Ortho, Subacute, Homecare, LTC.

So I had my first (hopefully last) needlestick today. I'm so annoyed with myself. The patient has prefilled novolog syringes where you attach the needle and reuse the cartridge. I read through the accompanying manual to see if there was a safe way to remove the needle, but unfortunately it didn't give any specifics. I'm so annoyed with myself. Ill have to head over to occupational health now. The pts hep tests were non reactive from a few months ago and she's low risk but ugh so dumb. Sorry for the rant and thanks for listening!

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Specializes in Med-Surg., Oncology, Observational Units.

I know how you feel and it can be scary. On the bright side, you were stuck with a fairly small needle and it is very difficult for Hep C and HIV to be transferred by needle stick. First see if your pt has any of these viruses before getting anxious about it. You seem fairly calm which is good. Good luck and I will pray that your pt is negative on all test.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

Sorry that happened to you.

Wise of you to go to Oc Health...follow your facility's needlestick protocol. Even though it looks like your risks of infection are low, you want every odd in your favor as much as possible. And follow up with your PCP as needed (we can't give medical advice here at AN).

Hope everything turns out OK for you.

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Specializes in Oncology.

I also had my first, and to date, only needle stick from a subq needle in a low risk patient. Thankfully a year later everything was still negative. Hopefully and likely it will be the same for you. The needle I was stuck with had no safety mechanism. It sounds like yours didn't either. You may want to ask your facility to look into these for future use with insulin pens. This is what we have for insulin pens.

Safety Pen Needle - BD AutoShield Pen Needle

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I know those needles. They are for home use, not facility use. They're seriously dangerous, as you found out. Hopefully your injury will help you persuade your facility to get the safer ones.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Ortho, Subacute, Homecare, LTC.

NurseDirtyBird, I agree. I had used the needle yesterday, but I had read through the instructions to make sure I wasn't removing it incorrectly. The instructions really never stated how to safely remove the needle. I work in a group home and this patient gives injections herself, but shakes too much to remove the needle. The DON asked how it happened and when I showed her she couldn't believe how we had to remove the needle. She said she was going to order some equipment that helps remove the needle. I hope she follows through because really my first thought was wow this is very unsafe.

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Hope they get those changed for you. I've been complaining they expect us to use home lancets for blood glucose checks for YEARS now. I've had at least two different coworkers stuck by the same patient's lancet on different admissions. (When I was there, I wouldn't be surprised if there had been others. At least two other coworkers have been stuck by other patients with these things. You'd think at some point, THEY'D GET THE HINT.

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Specializes in Going to Peds!.

We have the auto shield ones. They're so good that it only takes a good bump to trigger the safety cover.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Transplant, Education.

OP, sorry for your needlestick experience. I can completely relate...my first (and hopefully last as well) needlestick was with a used insulin syringe right in to my thumb at my old job. I can't even explain what I did, but I was in an awkward position and stuck myself when trying to engage the safety. The patient was low risk, negative for everything, but I chose to still go through with the testing because I was paranoid. Thankfully everything was negative. There is not a day I work that I don't think of it--I currently work on a floor that primarily cares for end stage liver disease patients...many of whom have liver disease due to hep C cirrhosis so exposure is a very real concern. If nothing else, you'll continue to be as careful as you can. Hopefully your employer figures out a way to work with this patient's insulin so that staff is safe. Best of luck.

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Specializes in School Nursing, Public Health, Home Care.

Is this the same kind of insulin pen with a skinny needle cover (usually color) and a bigger cover (cloudy plastic)? We use these in school settings. I teach aides never to re-cap with the skinny cover but to recap with the bigger cover and then screw the needle off for disposal. As soon as a student is old enough to do so, we have the student unscrew the needle and discard.

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Specializes in Oncology, Clinical research.

I hate those pen needles so much. I haven't been stuck with one, but I'm paranoid about it. I "scoop" to recap with the clear outer casing and then unscrew it, but still don't like doing it.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

I also got stuck by a Novolog needle as I removed the needle. Someone should invent a way to snap the needle off without touching the needle. Sort of like the probe covers for tympanic thermometers.

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