Subject that never seems to end.

[RNbelth]

I was wondering if someone nurses would share either their story or others they know of that involves a needlestick from sub q injection. Example insulin. Wondering if anyone has tested positive for hep c or HIV from these types of sticks.

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

My needlestick was from a insulin needle. I went to the ER, and the pt tested clean from everything. I didn't have to worry. I was reassured that if the pt did have Hep B/C, that transmission rate from a sub-q injection was low.

[RNperdiem, RN]

I got stuck deep with a heparin syringe. I got orders to draw labs on the patient, and she tested negative for both HIV and Hep C.

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

Cervical needle. Ouch. Tested out for 6 months and no problems.

[Elladora]

Been stuck by an insulin needle. Tested negative for everything as did the client.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

Deep palmar wound caused by a resident who thoughtfully hid a liver biopsy needle in the drapes I was cleaning up, patient as orange as a pumpkin. I do test positive for the hep antigen and have for decades now. So far, so good, but I am aware that liver cancer can result 30+ years later from an exposure, so... well, we all have to die of something eventually. :)

[GeneralJinjur]

Mine was from an IM needle used to deliver Ativan or Haldol. Negative on everything.

[westieluv]

Needle stick from an insulin syringe over 20 years ago when I was a brand new nurse and did something stupid. I had given a sweet elderly man his insulin and I was chatting with him at the bedside and absented-mindedly putting the needle cap on and off the used syringe (hey, I told you it was stupid, although back then they weren't yet putting safety guards on needles or it probably couldn't have happened as the needle would have been protected, but whatever, it was still stupid!). Needless to say, I poked myself in the finger and had to go down to ER to get screened for Hep and HIV. Both came back negative, but HIV was still somewhat of an unknown quantity at that time, so even though this patient happened (luckily!) to be a monogamous elderly man who had been in a long term marriage for many years, I was still very nervous, in case he had had a blood transfusion back in the early '80s or something. Lesson learned, I've never had another needle stick. Oh, and I'm still Hep and HIV negative.

[mercurysmom]

Stuck with a lancet that was left, used and uncapped, in the glucometer case by someone from the previous shift. Three diabetic patients on the floor, all of them tested negative for hep and HIV. Fortunately, or ironically I guess, all three of them had had screening tests done within a short period of time due to staff exposures! I was breastfeeding my 10 month-old daughter at the time, and had been donating surplus to a milk bank, and I had to stop after the needle stick.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Worked at a plasma center. Capillary tube shattered with multiple puncture sites into my hand. Fortunately the blood was from a monogamous, married housewife looking for extra funds and not the hep C positive homeless people who came in on either side of her. This was in 1995. I still test negative for both.