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Needlestick Injury from a Suspected HIV + Patient
Hi, everyone!
I am a registered nurse from a developing country and as of the moment, I am experiencing extreme psychological distress due to the fact that I sustained a needlestick injury from a suspected HIV + patient. It happened when I was cleaning her Dopamine sidedrip tubings as it was constantly "backflowing" with blood. When I removed the needle from the Y-Port of her mainline, a small amount of blood splashed onto one of my superficial wounds I got from a nailcutter incident. And as if that was not enough, the needle accidentally touched my thumb which left another wound about half a centimeter in size and less than 1 mm in depth. I wasn't using gloves at that time because everybody thought that we were only taking care of someone with respiratory problems, cardiomegaly, splenomegaly, hypotension and other health issues (diarrhea, urethritis, etc). When the doctor finally considered HIV (probably because of her constantly fluctuating lymphocyte count and her seemingly immunosuppressed status), the damaged has been done and I am left to worry for the next few months until I get an HIV test. The patient refused to have an HIV test herself and she is now discharged on an "improved" condition. I am so angry at myself for not being extra careful and to the doctors for their poor and delayed assessment. My question now is, what are my chances of acquiring an HIV infection from this incident if the patient was indeed HIV +?
P.S.
I was only able to wash my hands about 10 minutes later and wasn't able to receive PEP because our infectious department didn't think it was necessary. :(
Thank you for taking your time to answer.
I am a registered nurse from a developing country and as of the moment, I am experiencing extreme psychological distress due to the fact that I sustained a needlestick injury from a suspected HIV + patient. It happened when I was cleaning her Dopamine sidedrip tubings as it was constantly "backflowing" with blood. When I removed the needle from the Y-Port of her mainline, a small amount of blood splashed onto one of my superficial wounds I got from a nailcutter incident. And as if that was not enough, the needle accidentally touched my thumb which left another wound about half a centimeter in size and less than 1 mm in depth. I wasn't using gloves at that time because everybody thought that we were only taking care of someone with respiratory problems, cardiomegaly, splenomegaly, hypotension and other health issues (diarrhea, urethritis, etc). When the doctor finally considered HIV (probably because of her constantly fluctuating lymphocyte count and her seemingly immunosuppressed status), the damaged has been done and I am left to worry for the next few months until I get an HIV test. The patient refused to have an HIV test herself and she is now discharged on an "improved" condition. I am so angry at myself for not being extra careful and to the doctors for their poor and delayed assessment. My question now is, what are my chances of acquiring an HIV infection from this incident if the patient was indeed HIV +?
P.S.
I was only able to wash my hands about 10 minutes later and wasn't able to receive PEP because our infectious department didn't think it was necessary. :(
Thank you for taking your time to answer.
Thank you so much for replying. Yes.. Ideally, health care professionals should wear gloves at all times. But you know how it is in developing countries.. We need to be cost-efficient at all times and are only asked to wear protective equipment if it is truly required.. Sad truth. :( Anyway, thanks again! All I can really do is wait and pray.
As a nurse u always have to wear gloves... Anyway its not an issue... As far as HIV risk is concerned ur risk is negligible... HIV is a very fragile and it need direct contact and the viral load of the patient should be high.... So i think transmission is highly unlikely and i am sure u will be negative... For peace of mind take a rapid test and test at 3 months... But yes this test is only for ur peace of mind and not for Diagnosing HIV :D
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