Shocking story of the day

Nurses General Nursing

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We seem to have a little bit of a theme going on at allnurses with stories of horrible infection control breaches. I figured I would add my story into the mix.

Last night I was hanging out with one of my friends who is a nurse at a different hospital than I. I told her about how frustrated I was that I had stabbed myself with a clean needle drawing up a med on my last shift. She asked me if I gave the med in that syringe anyway. I looked at her like she had six heads and told her that of course I threw that out and started over. She told me that a nurse she works with did the same thing- BUT GAVE THE MED ANYWAY! She told me her reasoning was that she knew she was clean. My jaw nearly hit the floor.

Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

stories such as these are why my husband barely escaped having his right leg amputated above the

knee in february.

many many rounds of vanco eventually eliminated his life-threatening infection caused by the crap, crud

and various gawd-knows-whats under an rn's flashy dagger-like fake nails.

he was in inpatient woundcare therapy for treatment of a leg ulcer that began as a result of a hiking mishap.

he might still end up having to have a skin graft if it doesn't heal properly. because of pink and purple fake nails

with rhinestones.:banghead: :madface: :eek:

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Specializes in Spinal Cord injuries, Emergency+EMS.
I'm still stuck on the fact that you draw up meds with sharps, I thought that was a long gone practice.

and how are you supposed to draw up a med through a bunged container without a sharp of some kind ?

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many many rounds of vanco eventually eliminated his life-threatening infection caused by the crap, crud

and various gawd-knows-whats under an rn's flashy dagger-like fake nails.

i guess all that "irrelevant experience" we new grads have is not so irrelevant - i wouldn't be caught dead with even painted fingernails (who knows how many microscopic chips there could be for bacteria to hide in), much less fake nails! so sorry to hear that. what a breach of duty on the rn's part in my opinion.

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Specializes in Emergency, ICU.
I have also seen "experienced" nurses (and MDs) take purulent drainage covered indwelling catheters and wipe them off then re-insert them into the patient with the rationale "they are already colonized" :argue: WOW....

Oh my God!!! That is absolutely the most awful thing I can imagine -- I've seen those gross purulent foleys come out. How can anyone wipe it off and re-insert???

The needle thing is just crazy. I've stuck myself with the clean blunt needle (hurts like heck!) and the first thing I did was throw that thing out. I mean, I drew blood. Isn't it common sense...?

Oh, and NO. Where I work they are such cheap, penny counting a**** that I consider it a miracle to have BLUNT needles to draw up meds with ;)

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and how are you supposed to draw up a med through a bunged container without a sharp of some kind ?
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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
and how are you supposed to draw up a med through a bunged container without a sharp of some kind ?
While I'm not sure what a bunged container is, we have used plastic "needles" and spikes (nurse's choice) for at least 8 years. No needles whatsoever except for the ubiquitous
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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
and how are you supposed to draw up a med through a bunged container without a sharp of some kind ?
While not really sure what a bunged container is, we have used spikes and plastic "needles" for at least 8 years. No sharps whatsoever except for the glass ampules.
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Specializes in Spinal Cord injuries, Emergency+EMS.
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it might be plastic but it;s still a sharp ...

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Well, I draw up insulin multiple times every day with a syringe that has the needle attached. Don't know any other way to draw from a multi-use vial. As for the glass ampules, we were taught to use an alcohol pad AND a 2x2 to wrap the ampule. Years ago, we had to cut the amps open with a razor blade. Don't ask.

Peraldehyde came in glass amps and had to be given with a glass syringe because it reacted with the plastic syringes available at that time. And the glass syringes were NOT disposable; they were autoclaved and reused. As were many other items...

I am dating myself, I know. I am from the pre-got-to-wear-gloves-just-to-take-your-blood-pressure days!!

And I am still alive!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
it might be plastic but it;s still a sharp ...
Well, no. The plastic spike or needle COULD presumably pierce the skin...IF you used a hammer to pound it in. Otherwise, not so much.
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Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

i am dating myself, i know. i am from the pre-got-to-wear-gloves-just-to-take-your-blood-pressure days!!

that's ok, merlee. when my goddaughter was about nine, she was reading a biography of florence n.

she knew i was a nurse too and asked me very seriously whether i had been friends with her or had even

met her! uh.. no.:rotfl: just for the record, i didn't know clara barton either. i'm a child of the nineteen sixties! :rolleyes:

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Specializes in Oncology.
Well, no. The plastic spike or needle COULD presumably pierce the skin...IF you used a hammer to pound it in. Otherwise, not so much.
I'm going to make myself sound very clumsy here, but I've also drawn blood trying to spike a new bag of fluid and missing, and that's plastic.
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