Stuck myself with dirty needle - please help.

roser13, ASN, RN · Oct 23, 2015

Primary cutaneous tuberculosis in a 27-year-old medical intern from needle-stick injury: a case report

You're looking very hard for a thundering herd of zebras. Just worry about the horses, or you will not survive nursing school.

(Try not to always expect the unusual, rare development. Take care of the run-of-the-mill issues, which you have done.)

LPNtoRNin2016OH, LPN · Oct 23, 2015

i stuck myself with a used Tdap needle last year when I was 15 weeks pregnant. I was seriously terrified until I went to employee health and learned how rare it actually is to transmit anything from a needle stick. Granted, it's not to be taken lightly, but my employee health nurse had been there 20 years and she had only ever had two separate cases where someone actually acquired Hep C from a needle stick and it was generally from a large gauged needle that they had just drawn blood with.

Mine was a "low risk needle stick" meaning the patient did not bleed after the injection and it was a small gauge needle. The patient agreed to be tested and since I was pregnant, I chose to decline any type of preventative drugs. Patient was negative for everything.

I chalk it up as a learning experience. I got a needle stick from a patient with zero health issues and now I can prevent further ones that may actually be an issue depending on the patient. You will be fine. There is also some crazy thing that happened to some nurse in that one hospital...does not mean it's common, its only a "legend" because it rarely happens and when it does, everyone remembers it and re tells it over and over again to scare the crap out of their co workers.

Dogen · Oct 23, 2015

Primary cutaneous tuberculosis in a 27-year-old medical intern from needle-stick injury: a case report
Murphy's Law, also.

Remember that TB is rare in the US. I understand being scared, and you could spend all day looking up things you could catch by needle sticks, but worrying about unlikely things isn't good for you, either.

Ask yourself some questions. Who is best qualified to determine the risk posed to you by this needle stick? The ER doc? Employee health? Have you spoken to these people? What have they advised you? We have a tendency to let our knowledge of what's possible overrule our understanding of what's probable.

You came here asking for advice. That advice has been that you were treated appropriately and appear low risk, based on the information you provided. It's normal to worry, but my advice is to intentionally do something to keep you occupied for a few days and let the initial shock wear off.

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · Oct 23, 2015

Well, for starters, you are not going to catch TB from any sort of needle stick. Have you had microbiology yet?

As the topic title suggests, there's not much detail I need to go into...
I'm actually a nursing student, but thought I'd receive more help posting here with advice from seasoned nurses.
Quick Facts:
-stuck using SubQ small bore insulin needle
-hospital protocol was followed (school protocol is the same with some extra paperwork)
-history/records were pulled - no infectious diseases in the chart; HOWEVER, pt. has cancer, diabetes, and on BIPAP.
-Blood was drawn from source pt. and so far it has come up negative (-) for HIV antibodies.
-hospital did drug urinalysis
From what I understand, the hepatitis series check takes more time to evaluate.
Can someone please tell me whether tuberculosis or any other disease should be scanned. The hospital was NO help and neither was my school.
Any advice you can give is critical. Please.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Oct 23, 2015

-history/records were pulled - no infectious diseases in the chart; HOWEVER, pt. has cancer, diabetes, and on BIPAP.

You make the point with an all caps "HOWEVER" that the patient has cancer, diabetes, and is on Bipap. How is that relevant to your needle stick? You aren't going to contract any of those conditions from a needle stick.

It sounds as if you have every reason to feel pretty optimistic. The same thing happened to me, same needle type, same patient profile. I never worried for a minute about it. You are far more likely to get hit by an ambulance walking to your car in the parking lot.

Jensmom7, BSN, RN · Oct 23, 2015

I find it interesting that you are terrified of a disease that is not easy to contract via the primary means of transmission (TB), and concerned about conditions that are not in any way, shape, or form blood transmitted, but you're extremely blasÃ¨ about Hepatitis.

Also, why was a urine drug screen done? That seems kind of random.

Personally, if I were you I would lay off WebMD and get retested at the intervals your employee health tells you to. You were a very low risk needle stick.

CelticGoddess, BSN, RN · Oct 23, 2015

As the topic title suggests, there's not much detail I need to go into...
I'm actually a nursing student, but thought I'd receive more help posting here with advice from seasoned nurses.
Quick Facts:
-stuck using SubQ small bore insulin needle
-hospital protocol was followed (school protocol is the same with some extra paperwork)
-history/records were pulled - no infectious diseases in the chart; HOWEVER, pt. has cancer, diabetes, and on BIPAP.
-Blood was drawn from source pt. and so far it has come up negative (-) for HIV antibodies.
-hospital did drug urinalysis
From what I understand, the hepatitis series check takes more time to evaluate.
Can someone please tell me whether tuberculosis or any other disease should be scanned. The hospital was NO help and neither was my school.
Any advice you can give is critical. Please.

Think about how TB is transmitted. What type of isolation are they put on. Hint: It's not blood borne.

CelticGoddess, BSN, RN · Oct 23, 2015

I find it interesting that you are terrified of a disease that is not easy to contract via the primary means of transmission (TB), and concerned about conditions that are not in any way, shape, or form blood transmitted, but you're extremely blasÃ¨ about Hepatitis.
Also, why was a urine drug screen done? That seems kind of random.
Personally, if I were you I would lay off WebMD and get retested at the intervals your employee health tells you to. You were a very low risk needle stick.

Policy at my school and hospital is that a urine drug screen is done to make sure that the nurse (0r student) isn't incapacitated at the time of needle stick. I had to pee in a cup when I stuck my finger with a Lovenox needle. It's just the policy at a lot of places

AcuteHD · Oct 23, 2015

...You are far more likely to get hit by an ambulance walking to your car in the parking lot.

OMG. I'm going to be walking to my car tonight...in a parking lot...with ambulances right next door! Do you think I should sleep at work tonight?

Jensmom7, BSN, RN · Oct 24, 2015

Policy at my school and hospital is that a urine drug screen is done to make sure that the nurse (0r student) isn't incapacitated at the time of needle stick. I had to pee in a cup when I stuck my finger with a Lovenox needle. It's just the policy at a lot of places

Oh, ok. I get that. I thought they had done a UDS on the patient.

michlynn, BSN, RN · Oct 24, 2015

I'm a little confused as to why the Bipap was brought up? Is there something we should know about needle sticks and a breathing machine? Not trying to be rude but this post is throwing me for a loop... :roflmao: Even if you sliced your hand open with the scalpel you just used to cut into a patient with HIV/Hep C there's a less than 2% chance you will contract either of those.

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · Oct 24, 2015

I'm a little confused as to why the Bipap was brought up? Is there something we should know about needle sticks and a breathing machine? Not trying to be rude but this post is throwing me for a loop... Even if you sliced your hand open with the scalpel you just used to cut into a patient with HIV/Hep C there's a less than 2% chance you will contract either of those.

You also cannot contract unspecified cancer or diabetes (type 1 or type 2) from a needlestick with a short 27GA subcutaneous needle.

Large bore needle with fresh warm blood then maybe (the guy in Africa with cutaneous TB contracted from a 18GA blood filled needle)...