RANT!! He left a dirty needle on my table!

phriedomRN said:

I'm fairly new to L&D, only 3 days off orientation. My 2nd night, I had my 2nd delivery at 0622. The doc stitched the lac and just left. I was a little peeved that he'd left all the instruments out on the table, even with the basket for them in the corner. As I'm picking them up however, I see the needle he used. It's still in the needdle driver, pointed up, just lying out on the table. We have the needle holder box on all our delivery tables, but he didn't bother putting the needle in it. He didn't even tell me there was a sharp out! :angryfire

I mentioned it to the nurse I gave report to after it happened. She said it wasn't really unusual, especially with this doc, and that she's just really careful cleaning up the table. Is there something wrong with me for thinking that's INSANE? Every other delivery I've seen since I've been on the unit, the docs cleaned up after themselves. Last night after a delivery, doc put the needle box in the sharps container. I made a point to thank him for it and he looked at me like I'd grown 3 horns. He said it was "unfathomable to not take care of my sharps" and asked if other docs didn't. I gave him a very generic version of the other delivery. He said the only time he'd leave his stuff was if he was called away for something urgent, but he'd make sure the nurse knew there was a sharp out on the table.

OK, now that I've gotten that off my chest... How would you handle this? He was already back in the on call room sleeping by the time I got around to the table. Should I just double glove and use hemostats to clean up his tables from now on or is this something worth fussing about? You guys always give the best advice, can't wait to hear it

I think the only way to remedy that problem is to approach the md directly, and inform him that it is his responsibility to dispose of his own sharps. if he doesn't, write him up-that is a huge safety issue!

Even tho you are just off orientation, I think I would have written up an incident report. That was an unsafe situation & you could have easily been stuck. Someone really has to let this guy know that he is putting all your lives in jeopardy.

there's no excuse for this type of situation.

Mary Ann

Actually it is not too much to expect a doctor to dispose of their sharps appropriately. Only incident with a needle stick that I had involved a doctor not disposing of his sharp, which I did include in the summation of the event.

Where I presently work, I can report a safety risk, which could include unsafe disposal of sharps. When I file a report, Risk Management has to investigate. Does your facility allow you to do this? Why should this moron continue to put others in danger because he is lazy, careless, and thoughless?

I recall the saying: "YOUR MOTHER DOESN'T WORK HERE, PICK UP AFTER YOURSELF"

For minor surgeries ansd lacerations, our docs are expected (it's actually policy) to dispose of their own sharps. The majority are very good about this, they will even hold them up in the air and say outloud "I have 2 suture needles, and 1 hypodermic that i am disposing of right now". We had one that wouldn't dispose of his sharps, all we had to do was mention it to the supervisor (by the time we discovered it, he'd left), he apologized the next time, and has never done it again.

I really cannot say that every doc on our unit will dispose of his or her own needles. We don't have a needle box on the table, most of them put the needle in the cup and let us know. OR at least tell us the count. But not all. We take the hypodermic ones from them for the cord gases and cord blood put them into the syringes ourselves so we dispose of them before they are done anyway.

Write him up. He's putting others in jeopardy.

Some of our docs get rid of their own sharps after deliveries, some put them in the kidney basin on the delivery table and some don't do either. I have just gotten into the habit of asking before they leave the room "Are there any sharps on the table I need to watch out for?" It's not accusatory, but it gives me the information I need to watch out for myself or my CNAs. For the most part, they get the hint and will turn around and dump their own sharps.

As far as I'm concerned, I don't care who gets rid of the sharps, I just want to know if they're out there. The docs that take care of their own sharps are the same ones that show the nurses respect in most every aspect of our profession, those that don't are the ones that treat us like dirt anyway. Of course, they're the ones that get lots of phone calls in the middle of the night that could wait until a more humane hour, but then again, they could take care of getting rid of their own garbage too.

phriedomRN said:

I'm fairly new to L&D, only 3 days off orientation. My 2nd night, I had my 2nd delivery at 0622. The doc stitched the lac and just left. I was a little peeved that he'd left all the instruments out on the table, even with the basket for them in the corner. As I'm picking them up however, I see the needle he used. It's still in the needdle driver, pointed up, just lying out on the table. We have the needle holder box on all our delivery tables, but he didn't bother putting the needle in it. He didn't even tell me there was a sharp out! :angryfire

I mentioned it to the nurse I gave report to after it happened. She said it wasn't really unusual, especially with this doc, and that she's just really careful cleaning up the table. Is there something wrong with me for thinking that's INSANE? Every other delivery I've seen since I've been on the unit, the docs cleaned up after themselves. Last night after a delivery, doc put the needle box in the sharps container. I made a point to thank him for it and he looked at me like I'd grown 3 horns. He said it was "unfathomable to not take care of my sharps" and asked if other docs didn't. I gave him a very generic version of the other delivery. He said the only time he'd leave his stuff was if he was called away for something urgent, but he'd make sure the nurse knew there was a sharp out on the table.

OK, now that I've gotten that off my chest... How would you handle this? He was already back in the on call room sleeping by the time I got around to the table. Should I just double glove and use hemostats to clean up his tables from now on or is this something worth fussing about? You guys always give the best advice, can't wait to hear it

Go personally and privately to talk with the offender and let him know that you need him to at least tell you about any sharps if he can't discard them safely. Be calm and professional and maybe throw in a little humor if possible. Such as, "I won't to be able to have you deliver my babies if I get a terrible disease from a dirty needle, Dr. Butthead, now will I?" and blush and coo. Ouch, more or less just kidding.

But let him know that, in this day and age, you feel your very life can be seriously adversely affected by his lack of concern for your well-being. He should get the picture.

If he doesn't, sic your boss on him. If that doesn't work, you can go to the Medical Director and ask that physician to order him to put the sharps safely away. If that doesn't work, you could jab him with something sharp and see how he likes it.

phriedomRN

Obviously you are not the only one with this problem. Get the support of your peers (there is power in numbers). As long as nurses do not do anything about doctors' bad behavior (or unsafe) they will continue. We are taught in nursing school about enabling behavior. We can take that to the work environment.

So, having said that, may I suggest: Have a meeting with your NM about this. Identify it as a safety issue (not personal that way). Be sure you have the support of all who will be doing deliveries with this doctor. One poster suggested asking if there were any sharps left she needed to be concerned about. I suggest putting the responsibility back to the doc, and after deliveries EVERY nurse make it her/his practice to ask: Did you dispose of all of your sharps, doctor? At first his responses may be hard to take, but eventually he will get the idea. There is no pain in words, stares or glares.

The most important issue about this is that his negiligence in disposing of a sharp could be the most influential action in YOUR life. His arrogance, stupidity, cockiness or whatever motivates him to leave sharps on your table without calling them to your attention could result in a stick that could result in your exposure to a life altering or life threatening illness.

I'm apparently the only one, but I wouldn't have a problem with this at all. I've seen it happen so many times that I always just assume there are sharps out and act accordingly when I'm cleaning up.

Thanks for all your replies! I wanted to fill out an incident report on it (at my facility we use those for injuries, med errors or near misses) but the other nurse I talked to acted like I was nuts for even thinking about it. Next time I see him, I'm going to say "Dr Sharps, I need you to tell me if you've left sharps out" and see how that goes. Any grief from him, and I'm going to my NM about it. In this day and age, it's unbelievable that he routinely does this and gets away with it!

I see this all the time. I use to work for an FNP and he was good about throwing his needles out. However, a few of the docs I also work with leave their used sutures, disposable scalpers and needles on the tray. You just have to be aware and be careful when you clean up. Although they should do this themselves.