tishclassof08

Hello, I'm a FT nursing student and a PT patient care tech in a hospital. Last weekend, while at work at the hopsital, I got a needle stick with a needle containing blood from a patient who is Hep B and C positive. I filled out an incident report. They drew my blood and I was negative for Hep B, Hep C and HIV. They drew the patient's blood and she is HIV neg, but Hep B and C positive. I know I don't have to worry about the Hep B because of the Hep B vaccination required to work in the hopsital. However, I'm scared stiff about the Hep C. By the way, the whole process took *HOURS* because noone on my unit had the faintest idea about needlestick protocol. Then, when they gave up and sent me to ED, noone there had any idea what to do either. I had to advocate for myself to get them to track down a doc to get the patient's consent to draw and test her blood. Here are my questions for those of you who have had this experience: 1. How do you deal with the 6 month wait to see if you got the dreaded disease? 2. Was your manager supportive? Mine was awful to me. 3. Were your coworkers supportive? Mine were not. I feel so discouraged and scared. Any supportive advice would be appreciated.