Poked myself with a syringe

Crimsonking · Oct 28, 2008

Uhh no. You will not catch anything from poking yourself after poking a fake arm :)

I'm going to have to disagree with this statement. I'm sorry to hear about your accident. Anytime you break skin, with anything, you are opening the door for a number of opportunistic pathogens. A good friend of mine got MRSA from a Flu vaccine. Albeit, this happened in a hospital and most likely due to improperly administering the vaccine w/o disinfecting the site with alcohol and she was probably already colonized with it. The point is, it may be nothing to worry about, but there is a risk.

bamadebRN · Oct 28, 2008

100 pages??????? OMG! :eek:

lemonaidangel · Oct 28, 2008

100 pages??????? OMG!

That's not an essay. That's a book, in my opinion.

Bortaz, MSN, RN · Oct 28, 2008

It's a deterrent, is what it is.

AtomicWoman · Oct 28, 2008

What's the deal with recapping? I keep hearing that syringes should not be recapped, because that's when you are most likely to get stuck. But apparently, after reading these posts, recapping is still OK? I am confused. The nurses, doctors and NPs where I work never recap; they just chuck the syringe in the collection box on the wall.

Just curious...

jeepgrl944 · Oct 29, 2008

As AirForceRN said, if it was a fake arm, maybe a little infection, just as if you had a little laceration from anything else. The fake arm surely has some sort of surface bacteria, but unless it's something crazy and virulent, I don't think you're in any danger.

I poked myself with a needle pretty hard in a simulator lab. I was trying to refill a 250 CC bag with "mag sulfate" (water) in a hurry, through the port for adding meds. Oops it went deep into my finger. Somehow nobody noticed me standing at the sink for an extended period of time rinsing my finger and holding pressure with a paper towel. Or that I had my hand balled up in my scrub pocket with the same paper towel.

AirforceRN, RN · Oct 29, 2008

What's the deal with recapping? I keep hearing that syringes should not be recapped, because that's when you are most likely to get stuck. But apparently, after reading these posts, recapping is still OK? I am confused. The nurses, doctors and NPs where I work never recap; they just chuck the syringe in the collection box on the wall.
Just curious...

The only time I recapp is after getting a narc and moving from the cuboard to the pts room...I never recapp after actually stabbing a pt, but with today's safety needles there is really never a need to anyways.

chaxanmom · Oct 29, 2008

It's a deterrent, is what it is.

I would so call BS but that's just me. :rolleyes:

Bortaz, MSN, RN · Oct 29, 2008

Sure you would. What other school policies would you call "BS" on?

RNKel, ASN, RN · Oct 29, 2008

Sure you would. What other school policies would you call "BS" on?

--------

Perhaps lightening up would be a good idea. My goodness.

Bortaz, MSN, RN · Oct 29, 2008

If the "100 pages" thing prevents even 1 nurse from carelessly poking herself with a dirty needle, then I think my classmates have been well served by having it there as a repercussion.

Panthyr · Oct 29, 2008

What's the deal with recapping? I keep hearing that syringes should not be recapped, because that's when you are most likely to get stuck. But apparently, after reading these posts, recapping is still OK? I am confused. The nurses, doctors and NPs where I work never recap; they just chuck the syringe in the collection box on the wall.
Just curious...

You have to recap after drawing the medicine up in the med room to take it to the patient's bedside, otherwise you're walking around the halls with an open needle! Eep!

After actually administering the drug, you can never recap, you have to use the safety mechanism that's built in (and usually a one-shot). Then you throw it in the sharps container.

I've heard that if JCAHO finds any recapped needles in the sharps container, there's a fine for each one, but I'm not sure about the truth of the matter.