Nance

The way that I look at it is we all make mistakes. Did the patient do o.k.? In the field of nursing, it seems we are at fault for many things. We can't beat ourselves up. We do the best of our ability with the knowledge we possess, search for info when we don't have the knowledge. One strength of many nurses is being almost compulsive and it sounds as if your charge probabally has that quality. Patient not compromised is top priority. I've known MDs to try to take gallbladders out even when patient says it has been removed already. We are human. I love home health and will try to give you more infor later. Got to go. Keep smiling and DO NOT KEEP beating yourself up. Learn and move on-that makes us all better nurses. Nance

Done. Yes I sounded whimpy. Needle box was too full and safety guard was not locked. Needle box was too small and will be changed now. It should have only been used for butterflies and CBG stuff. Other nurses like them. We are getting larger sharps containers, which I had requested anyway. Syringes were too large to lie down in box and upright were too long. Ha. MD told his stick stories and boss was great helping me an MD wade thru paperwork.

Hi, I'm pretty new to home health. It's been about six months. I worked on Surgical floor for three years prior. It has been a rough week. I had to draw blood from a central line and it took a few syringes. My needle box was a bit full and guess what happened? I was pushing the syringes in sort of hard and one came thru the box and stuck my leg. I know what I should do. This was Friday and today is Sunday. With the week I have had and feeling incompetent at present, I have done nothing. Of course it was late Friday. Office was closed. My superviser wasn't in office. She is a stickler and is a OSHA nut. I just need a bit of support. I feel like an idiot. It's just one more thing in my week and my new boss will say Why did you wait? I'm not sure about the syringe even. Which needle or patient did it come from? I'll be at fault for this in the eyes of the boss. Yuck, Please give some needed support Thanks in advance