re-used needles

I had my blood drawn in a medical lab by a nurse. I know they usually don't re-use needles. The problem is that i don´t remember seeing the nurse unwraping a new needle and now i'm stressing a lot.

And what if she re-used a needle that was used in an hiv positive person before me?

Could i had contracted hiv this way? Why?

[joggen]

The blood drawing equipment is designed to prevent reuse of needles. It cannot happen. If you need more information please use the search function.

[joao797]

Thanks for answering me but i think the neddle which was used on me could be re-used because at least with me she filled several vacuum blood tubes with the same needle injected in my arm.

So i suppose the needle could be used in other persons.

[joggen]

That has absolutely no relevance to whether she could use that needle on another person. Please take additional questions to the OCD forum. Your concern is completely irrational and we do not get into hypothetical exposures on this forum.

[LIZZIE LOU]

nurse reused needle?  c'mon...that is very irrational thinking.

[joao797]

And if she was negligent? She wouldn't be the first.

[joao797]

Ok joggen i'll stop posting but you are wrong when you say the needles can't be re-used. There are some needles that can't be re-used but others can.

The one that was used on me can be re-used. Off course usually they aren't re-used but in a very extreme situation it could have happened.

[avonelle38]

I am a nurse, and I can tell you that NO nurse or other healthcare provider is going to be so "negligent" as to reuse a needle on someone. This does not happen. No nurse is going to leave a used needle laying around, then pick it up again, not realize it was used, and use it on another person. Leaving used needles laying around poses more risk to the healthcare worker than to you- he/she would NEVER do this, nor would they risk losing their job by doing this. Needles for drawing blood do not come individually packaged in wrapping. They come in bulk in boxes, and they just have a lid which is sealed with a label. In order to use that needle, you must forcefully twist the top off to break the seal. When the nurse is done using the needle, she NEVER recaps it. It goes directly into the sharps box (orange or red biohazard boxes you see in medical settings.) The reason you did not see her "unwrap" a new needle is because they are not packaged this way. She could not accidentally reuse it because the seal would be broken, and it is VERY obvious when a needle has been used. It goes into the sharps box, no questions asked.

What Joggen is saying is that the vast majority of blood-draw needles cannot be shared between patients because they are deliberately set up with protective mechanisms so that when the needle is done being used, a protective covering snaps over it and prevents it from being able to even be exposed again. The nurse wasn't "reusing" the needle on you because she drew several tubes of blood- they are designed that way so that you only have to be pricked once no matter the amount of vials of blood needed. That doesn't mean that needle can be used on someone ELSE.

This is a very irrational fear that you need to let go of now. I promise that nurse did not reuse a needle on you. You have NO idea how much is it pounded into our heads, ingrained into our minds, to NEVER do something like that. It is called infection control. We abide by it.

[AJC2011]

I had my blood drawn and the noticed the lab lady that drew my blood had a syringe with something attached to it sitting ON TOP of the sharps container. It was onoy when she saw me staring at it that she shook the container to have it drop into the box. I'm worried as to why she didn't dispose of it properly right away. Now I'm afraid she had reused a needle on me that she didn't dispose of properly.

[ricky_id]

Normally it's unallowed to post on an old thread, but I'll tell you that that won't happen that she'll reuse that. In some countries, she can go to jail if proven.