Threat of needle sticks!!

Empress · Jul 15, 2006

I've never had a dirty needlestick, and I was a paramedic for a few years, an ER tech for a few more years, and now working as a phlebotomist. The only needlestick I've had is when I had trouble uncapping an IV needle and was impatient. Left a good gash on my thumb. :rolleyes:

I think the key is to be very aware of where the needle is at all times and take your time. Inform the patient of what's happening, position everything just the way you want it so everything is right there. I am a little slower because I know when I rush I make mistakes, but this isn't the time to be fast KWIM? The first thing after I am done with a needle is to do the safety cap (with one hand) and put in the sharps container. Trash and minor adjustments can wait.

dorimar, BSN, RN · Jul 16, 2006

I'm sure soilant was kidding

tridil2000, MSN, RN · Jul 16, 2006

Hi all. I am just curious. I am planning on going to nursing school this coming Spring. How likely is it that one gets stuck with a dirty needle? Does that happen often? I want to do nursing, but I am having second thoughts as I do not want to get stuck with a dirty needle OR be trying to take blood and the person flinch and I get stuck. EEEeeeeeee... I don't mind operating with a scalpel and such, that does not bother me, but the getting stuck with a dirty needle while the person is awake and responsive bothers me. How much of a realistic threat is this????? Help!
Epona

how about poop??:redlight:

are ya afraid of smelly c diff diarrhea all over your patient, that will take an entire box of wipes to clean up??? :no:

then there's the gi bleed bm. god does that top the chart for the smelliest bms. :sniff:

what about yellow thick secretions oozing out of trachs??? the sound of that being suctioned could make anyone gag!!:barf01:

and what about deep infected wounds... like on the folds of the 300 pound patients!! you have to like lift their belly and then unpack the gooey green gauze and repack it. :crying2:

do you mind necrotic toes? i took off the shoes of a pt once in our er and his toe fell off it was so dead.:smackingf

you haven't seen "ewwwwww"

Epona · Jul 16, 2006

Wow! Everyone has been really helpful in shedding light on the threat of needle sticks. Thank you!

Ok... I am going to be really honest here.. from the last post tridil2000 mentioned a LOT of incidents can occur when working as a nurse. I am not doing that period. I am not cleaning poop or thick nasty secretions. Not doing it. Just not doing it.

What I envision myself doing is ordering tests, helping diagnose illnesses, talking to families, educating patients, etc. I do not see myself cleaning poop, cleaning up vomit, etc. I am not trying to be offsensive here at all, just stating that I am not doing that. I have been accpeted to nursing school for next spring so I still have time to back out. I was planning on going straight from RN to MSN to nurse practitioner. I would have gone right into medical school, but do to health limitations I cannot. But honestly, is that what you all do??? I do not want to be a floor nurse or work in a hospital!!! I honor you all for doing that, but that is not what I envision for myself....

HELP!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! :confused:

ICURN_NC · Jul 16, 2006

Wow! Everyone has been really helpful in shedding light on the threat of needle sticks. Thank you!
Ok... I am going to be really honest here.. from the last post tridil2000 mentioned a LOT of incidents can occur when working as a nurse. I am not doing that period. I am not cleaning poop or thick nasty secretions. Not doing it. Just not doing it.
What I envision myself doing is ordering tests, helping diagnose illnesses, talking to families, educating patients, etc. I do not see myself cleaning poop, cleaning up vomit, etc. I am not trying to be offsensive here at all, just stating that I am not doing that. I have been accpeted to nursing school for next spring so I still have time to back out. I was planning on going straight from RN to MSN to nurse practitioner. I would have gone right into medical school, but do to health limitations I cannot. But honestly, is that what you all do??? I do not want to be a floor nurse or work in a hospital!!! I honor you all for doing that, but that is not what I envision for myself....
HELP!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

I do wish you all the luck with your endevours. And I hate to be the killjoy here, but yes, nursing involves body fluids.

Many programs (RN to MSN), at least in my area, require at least a year or two of acute care experience as an RN. That means hospitals- and poop.

Again, good luck and really research what's required before you make such absolute plans.

hospitalstaph · Jul 16, 2006

Wow! Everyone has been really helpful in shedding light on the threat of needle sticks. Thank you!
Ok... I am going to be really honest here.. from the last post tridil2000 mentioned a LOT of incidents can occur when working as a nurse. I am not doing that period. I am not cleaning poop or thick nasty secretions. Not doing it. Just not doing it.
What I envision myself doing is ordering tests, helping diagnose illnesses, talking to families, educating patients, etc. I do not see myself cleaning poop, cleaning up vomit, etc. I am not trying to be offsensive here at all, just stating that I am not doing that. I have been accpeted to nursing school for next spring so I still have time to back out. I was planning on going straight from RN to MSN to nurse practitioner. I would have gone right into medical school, but do to health limitations I cannot. But honestly, is that what you all do??? I do not want to be a floor nurse or work in a hospital!!! I honor you all for doing that, but that is not what I envision for myself....
HELP!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

In my opinion, you should not persue nursing. If you are unwilling to clean poop, trachs, vomit, etc, then you have no business being a nurse. I know that many, many people think that this part of nursing if gross and humiliating, but I love being the one that helps a person maintain their dignity. There is nothing wrong with not wanting to/refusing to do the above mentioned tasks, unless you are a nurse:) To be honest, I don't think doctors will make it through their career without atleast some of this too.

Best of luck to you:)

T

missninaRN · Jul 16, 2006

Wow! Everyone has been really helpful in shedding light on the threat of needle sticks. Thank you!
Ok... I am going to be really honest here.. from the last post tridil2000 mentioned a LOT of incidents can occur when working as a nurse. I am not doing that period. I am not cleaning poop or thick nasty secretions. Not doing it. Just not doing it.
What I envision myself doing is ordering tests, helping diagnose illnesses, talking to families, educating patients, etc. I do not see myself cleaning poop, cleaning up vomit, etc. I am not trying to be offsensive here at all, just stating that I am not doing that. I have been accpeted to nursing school for next spring so I still have time to back out. I was planning on going straight from RN to MSN to nurse practitioner. I would have gone right into medical school, but do to health limitations I cannot. But honestly, is that what you all do??? I do not want to be a floor nurse or work in a hospital!!! I honor you all for doing that, but that is not what I envision for myself....
HELP!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

As a nursing student, you will be doing all of that stuff.

Every MSN program I have investigated requires a year or more of clinical experience.

Have you considered shadowing an RN and/or NP for a day or two? You need to have a good understanding of what is involved in this profession before you invest time and money into nursing school. NP's are exposed to the "yucky" stuff too. Even MDs get vomited on.

Best of luck to you. I do hope you find your niche.

Epona · Jul 16, 2006

Thank you everyone and I do appreciate your honesty here.

I know I will have to do a year or so of clincial and I can bare it for a year or so, BUT doing the poop cleaning and vomit cleaning and so forth for a life long career... no. I can bear it to "do my time" so to speak, but I do not want an everyday diet of it.

I am hoping to get my NP and work solely in a doctor's office. I want to educate, help diagnose, read stats and such. Again I think very highly of hosptial nurses and where would we be with out them, but that is not what I want to do.

No hospitals for me for the long hall- a year or so of clincial I can muster- but not for the long hall..... I am thinking in a docs. office I will have less exposure to poop and such here. Sorry.. I am just being honest.

GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN · Jul 16, 2006

I was been stuck, but only with clean needles. Too many times to count. And all occurances were my fault. From trying to mix meds (rural hospital, no pharmacy techs to mix your IVPB's for you, you have to do it yourself) in a hurry, talking to someone while mixing meds, just basically not taking my time or not giving it my full attention. I ignore anyone talking to me while giving an IM or starting an IV. Thankfully I have not been stuck with a used needle at this time.

You will have to clean tons of poop, pee, puke, and snot while in nursing school. Usually instructors give you the most complex patients, (so you can learn the most) but these patients are also the same patients that are usually very elderly or too sick to care for themselves and need a lot of personal care.

If you can get through 2 years of dealing with the excretions, you will still likely have to get some experience as a staff nurse before being hired as a NP. It is possible to skip working as a staff nurse I would assume, but I would assume you would get hired faster if you did. So, that would add another one year onto dealing with excretions. Thats 3 years. Can you handle that?

Gompers, BSN, RN · Jul 16, 2006

Thank you everyone and I do appreciate your honesty here.
I know I will have to do a year or so of clincial and I can bare it for a year or so, BUT doing the poop cleaning and vomit cleaning and so forth for a life long career... no. I can bear it to "do my time" so to speak, but I do not want an everyday diet of it.
I am hoping to get my NP and work solely in a doctor's office. I want to educate, help diagnose, read stats and such. Again I think very highly of hosptial nurses and where would we be with out them, but that is not what I want to do.
No hospitals for me for the long hall- a year or so of clincial I can muster- but not for the long hall..... I am thinking in a docs. office I will have less exposure to poop and such here. Sorry.. I am just being honest.

Most programs have you doing two years of clinicals, not one. Plus, as mentioned before, even with direct-entry nurse practitioner programs you may have to get some nursing experience as an RN.

You also might have a heck of a time getting hired as a nurse practioner if you've never worked a day in your life as a nurse. Seriously, nurse practioner is the highest level of NURSE. The reason they're so good is that they have both a nursing background and a medical one. It's the best of both worlds. If you completely skip over being an RN for even a year, you're really doing a major disservice to yourself and your future patients. I would NEVER see or hire a nurse practitioner who never practiced as a nurse.

I'm being honest with you here.

PhoenixGirl · Jul 16, 2006

I am hoping to get my NP and work solely in a doctor's office. I want to educate, help diagnose, read stats and such. Again I think very highly of hosptial nurses and where would we be with out them, but that is not what I want to do.
No hospitals for me for the long hall- a year or so of clincial I can muster- but not for the long hall..... I am thinking in a docs. office I will have less exposure to poop and such here. Sorry.. I am just being honest.

I'm trying to think what job in healthcare is immune to bodily fluids.... Hmmm...maybe rad tech?

Both my kids have puked in doctors offices, lol. Think flu season, when all the hacking, coughing, vomitting patients come in? They get it too, it's not just in hospitals.

Just watched a doctor squeeze a disguisting smelling abcess in this huge woman for about 1/2 an hour. It stank so bad. The man is a doctor, and nope, not immune to disgusting things.

Or I think about my obgyn who delivered my stillborn baby and then had to go in with her hand and try to get my placenta out because it wouldn't deliver. Again, there, not immune to bodily fluids.

Maybe this is really nasty of me, but I think nursing takes a certain type of person, and I can't imagine a NP or doctor that has not had hospital clinical and job experience. You learn *so* much in the hospital setting. Yes, you have to deal with bodily fluids in that setting, but aside from that, what you learn is so valuable. Can that really be passed over???

Rebecca

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jul 16, 2006

Wow! Everyone has been really helpful in shedding light on the threat of needle sticks. Thank you!
Ok... I am going to be really honest here.. from the last post tridil2000 mentioned a LOT of incidents can occur when working as a nurse. I am not doing that period. I am not cleaning poop or thick nasty secretions. Not doing it. Just not doing it.
What I envision myself doing is ordering tests, helping diagnose illnesses, talking to families, educating patients, etc. I do not see myself cleaning poop, cleaning up vomit, etc. I am not trying to be offsensive here at all, just stating that I am not doing that. I have been accpeted to nursing school for next spring so I still have time to back out. I was planning on going straight from RN to MSN to nurse practitioner. I would have gone right into medical school, but do to health limitations I cannot. But honestly, is that what you all do??? I do not want to be a floor nurse or work in a hospital!!! I honor you all for doing that, but that is not what I envision for myself....
HELP!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

You will have to give intimate care, baths, empty bed pans and clean up poop in nursing school. Unless you're extremely luck and your clinicals go well.

It is indeed possible to go from a BSN program, straight into a NP program, but it's going to be hard in undergrade to avoid the nasty stuff. If you can handle it while you're in school, knowing it's only for while you're in school, then go for it!

If you can't handle it, go to med school and forget about nursing.

Good luck.