Scared of needlesticks?

To be honest, I never thought of it until I was in NS. I was working as a tech, drawing a blood cx with a butterfly needle, when the patient became agitated and jerked their arm away. The needle popped out of her hand, and jabbed into my thumb.

I felt like a dead man. After going to the ER and getting counseled, blood drawn and antibiotics, I felt terrible. I had to wait it out for a few weeks until I found out that both I and the pt were negative.

It's a valid fear that exists. You just need to be careful. In this day and age of needleless devices, the potential is a lot lower.

Damn, as a future nurse just starting school that kinda freaks me out. I am going to be so careful about that when Im doing it.

I've had two needle sticks, one I knew was a clean needle, used to draw up some saline to flush an IV.

The other was while drawing blood from a child, that one was dirty, but being a kid I wasn't too worried. Everything came back fine.

It can be nerve-racking.

You just have to be careful, and sometimes that isn't enough.

I know of a situation where a nurse was stuck and the source patient, two days post surgery, was very low risk, with no risk factors, except the blood she received in surgery. That blood is assumed to be safe.

But, months later when the nurse turned positive, an investigation began. The blood donor was in the sero-latent period when he donated. The source patient was in the sero-latent period also, having had contracted just two days before, so she tested negative at thetime of the nurse's stick also.

By the time the nurse turned positive, the patient (in her 90s) had died.

There is no such thing as a low risk stick!

A few nurses have commented that they will be careful and they are scared. I am very scared also. But research studies have shown that in the majority of needlesticks, not being careful was not a causative factor.

Danger happens.

When a patient is agitated, another team member bumps into you, you drop a sharp, somebody else drops a sharp, someone else leaves something where you don't expect to find it..... the list is too extensive for this post.

Police officers get bullet proof vests, construction workers get hard hats and steel toed shoes. They are not told to "Just be careful."

But more nurses die of exposures than police officers die each year - and sometimes nurses are told, "Those safety syringes cost a couple of pennies more. You can't use them."

I know of a situation where a young nurse contracted Hepatitis C, long before HCV was discovered. She married and had a child. In a rare circumstance, she infected her child. That child grew up and had a child. That child too, was infected by her mother. Then the original needlestick victim, now grandmother, found out she has HCV and it was investigated and found to be from that needlestick.

That's three generations infected with HCV from one needlestick. Pitiful!

I am not scared at all, you just have to be very alert and cautious. I am a phlebotomist(only 2 yrs, but still have seen alot of things). Most near sticks or sticks that I have seen/heard about are the result of lack-luster techniques. People are not paying attention or are using improper technique.

One example I can think of off the top of my head involved a coworker being stuck. He stuck himself while using a butterfly needle. He said his fingers slipped, due to the "sweaty" patient, and he stuck himself. But we all know he didn't follow the protocol of activating the safety while the needle was in the vein. I know as sure as I am typing this, he pulled the needle out without activating the safety and accidentally stuck himself. He would have had to put the needle through 3 2x2s also if he was following our procedures.

Being alert and cautious does not help when a patient smacks you, or someone else comes in the room around that curtain quickly bumping into you, or there is a partially-dropped needle in the sharps container sticking up waiting for your finger.

And the penalty for these accidents or as you stated, lack or care - is death. When one considers that child molesters don't get the death penalty, it seem a bit sad that health care workers get it.

I work as a tech now and I do quite a bit of blood draws and I've never been stuck yet *knocks on wood*. In general I draw with a butterfly needle and I don't have my hand above the needle so if a patient jerks quickly or something my finger is right on the quick release button and I hit it so no one gets jabbed (I had a patient jerk once and the needle came out and this was the case.) Its not a full proof method to avoid sticks but in general it helps keep things pretty safe.

!Chris