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needle stick
I was rinsing back a dialysis patient, I placed his needles on the side after I removed them. I sat down next to him to hold his sites until they stopped bleeding. I was holding this patients sites because he is missing his hands and unable to hold his sites. I moved my hands slightly to the left and stuck myself with one of his needles. If felt more like a scratch than a stick. I did notice very little blood (almost nothing) when I removed my glove. But the reason any blood came out is because I milked the stick after I stuck myself.. my question is.. what are my chances of getting hepatitis C??
It takes 10 picoliters of blood to infect you with hepatitis (one picoliter is one trillionth of a liter) and 0.3 ml of blood to infect you with HIV. Considering that the needles used in dialysis are usually gage 15 or 16 they can hold a large amount of blood. That's why the needles have a protective plastic part that you are supposed to slide over the needle after you remove it from the patient, to keep from getting stuck. Leaving uncapped needles next to you or the patient is a big no-no and so is sitting right next to the patient to "hold the sites" . Try using the plastic clamps instead.
Dialysis patients have a hepatitis panel done before they start dialysis. Try looking in the chart for the results. The state sort of insists on it since that's how they keep track of transmission between patients. Emergency hospital patients have one done too. If the results are not available, then you treat them as if they're infected.
You're supposed to bleach the machines weekly and after using them on hepatitis and HIV patients. If you don't do a hepatitis panel, then how do you know if you need to bleach the machine?
Of course there's a much easier way of telling who has hepatitis without looking at the chart. Hepatitis patients are kept separated from the non infected patients in an area designed as "isolation", remember?
By the way.....at a dialysis clinic, nurses don't pull needles out, technicians do. A nurse wouldn't say "missing both hands", we would say, "bilateral amputee", and we certainly wouldn't "milk" the finger before removing the glove, but I give you credit for spelling dialysis correctly.
Co
Dialysis patients have a hepatitis panel done before they start dialysis. Try looking in the chart for the results. The state sort of insists on it since that's how they keep track of transmission between patients. Emergency hospital patients have one done too. If the results are not available, then you treat them as if they're infected.
You're supposed to bleach the machines weekly and after using them on hepatitis and HIV patients. If you don't do a hepatitis panel, then how do you know if you need to bleach the machine?
Of course there's a much easier way of telling who has hepatitis without looking at the chart. Hepatitis patients are kept separated from the non infected patients in an area designed as "isolation", remember?
By the way.....at a dialysis clinic, nurses don't pull needles out, technicians do. A nurse wouldn't say "missing both hands", we would say, "bilateral amputee", and we certainly wouldn't "milk" the finger before removing the glove, but I give you credit for spelling dialysis correctly.
Co
First, does the patient have HCV? if so, get tested.
I was stuck accidentally by my sons needles and pushed out
the blood like you did. I never got HCV.
I would seek out info on the patient first.
Elaine
I was stuck accidentally by my sons needles and pushed out
the blood like you did. I never got HCV.
I would seek out info on the patient first.
Elaine
There are certain protocols that need to be followed when anyone in the health care industry sustains any type of needle stick injury.(below)
http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/WorkplaceSafety/SafeNeedles/NeedlestickPrevention.pdf
Sharps Injury Log
The newly revised Bloodborne Pathogens Standard requires employers to “maintain
a sharps injury log for the recording of percutaneous injuries from contaminated
sharps.”39 The log must contain, at a minimum, the following information:
• Date of the injury
• Type and brand of the device involved
• Department or work area where the incident occurred
• Explanation of how the incident occurred
39 2000
Best..
Will
http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/WorkplaceSafety/SafeNeedles/NeedlestickPrevention.pdf
Sharps Injury Log
The newly revised Bloodborne Pathogens Standard requires employers to “maintain
a sharps injury log for the recording of percutaneous injuries from contaminated
sharps.”39 The log must contain, at a minimum, the following information:
• Date of the injury
• Type and brand of the device involved
• Department or work area where the incident occurred
• Explanation of how the incident occurred
39 2000
Best..
Will
Does the patient have HCV? I would ask the patient if you could test their blood. "sneaking" their blood and testing could be a HIPAA crime in some states.
I agree with the other that you should get tested. Hopefully you will not be infected, but if you are, then you can be treated and cured.
You might be OK but if I were you I would go to your supervisor so she can check this pt. hepatitis profile and then go to employee health and get tested ,to be sure. This happens quite often in dialysis where we work with blood and needles all day long ,Hep C is common there. . I experienced deep needle stick while I worked in dialysis long time ago and paid the price. There is effective treatment today in the worst case for you ,.but I hope you are OK. Good luck!
Below are risk factors listed by the CDC. As you can see, healthcare workers having been stuck by an HCV infected needle is a risk factor. So, if the patient has HCV there is a risk. You should be tested.
Who is at risk for HCV infection?
The following persons are at known to be at increased risk for HCV infection:
Current or former injection drug users, including those who injected only once many years ago
Recipients of clotting factor concentrates made before 1987, when more advanced methods for manufacturing those products were developed
Recipients of blood transfusions or solid organ transplants before July 1992, when better testing of blood donors became available
Chronic hemodialysis patients
Persons with known exposures to HCV, such as
health care workers after needlesticks involving HCV-positive blood
recipients of blood or organs from a donor who tested HCV-positive
Persons with HIV infection
Children born to HCV-positive mothers
http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/hcv/hcvfaq.htm
Who is at risk for HCV infection?
The following persons are at known to be at increased risk for HCV infection:
Current or former injection drug users, including those who injected only once many years ago
Recipients of clotting factor concentrates made before 1987, when more advanced methods for manufacturing those products were developed
Recipients of blood transfusions or solid organ transplants before July 1992, when better testing of blood donors became available
Chronic hemodialysis patients
Persons with known exposures to HCV, such as
health care workers after needlesticks involving HCV-positive blood
recipients of blood or organs from a donor who tested HCV-positive
Persons with HIV infection
Children born to HCV-positive mothers
http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/hcv/hcvfaq.htm
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