needle stick injury on health care workers!

That is scarey! And with HIV you just never know. The person may not even know. Isn't there a test everyone can take to be assured they aren't HIV positive? Thank you for the advise. I have very good health care workers that I go to. All my family is up-to-date on their shots.

I had the same experience you had. Did you report it to your infection control officer? our hospital is really particular in needle injuries especially to their workers. I reported the incident and i was advised to have Hep B titer examination. Luckily i had my shots and fortunately it had a good result! No Hep B for me!Hope you had yourself vaccinated as well!

Good advice. Sometimes the patient might grab you where you were hurt such as putting her hand over your hand where the cut is. And what might be harmless to you, might be deadly to her. Oh and the blood getting on bandages or on the pill bottles, etc. would not help.

hi innocentkadz I worked as a nurses aide many years back and had a mishap with taking an iv down and stuck myself. I did not know that the patient had Hepatitis until six weeks later I came down with hepatitis then we traced it back and found the patient had hepatitis and blood from her was entered into my blood stream via the needle prick.I was ill for some time and lost time off work plus medical expenses although i had a good insurance too. One working in nursing should be doubly careful not to stick ones self from a needle from another person.

Gvaccinated? As a health worker you should also know that even in normal life there are many risks, that you can't get a vaccination for everything, that you can't always play on safe, that there is not a vaccination for everything and that many vaccinations are soo old that the viruses already changed many times. So they don't work anymore. This besides of the fact that many vaccinations are very risky for a big group of people too. The ones who have certain illnesses and that vaccinations can cause seriously illnesses as well with side effects who are way more risky as the very small change to grab into a needle or help out a bloody person on the street. Besides this all there is also something like a good imune system of yourself. People who live in dirt are way more healthy as those who live in a very hygenic area, incl. antibacterial soap, vaccinations, etc etc.

First of all, what you need to know right now, is the health status of the patient before you decide what next. In other hospitals, due to increased cases of HIV, if you punctured yourself, there is no time wasted and immediately within 24 hours, your counselled, tested and given PEP (post exposure prophylaxis) if you want. The patient is also tested. If the patient is negative, you may choose not to take any medication but sometimes people prefer taking the medication for a period of 28 days to make sure even after the window period which is 6 months, one is well protected. I hope that I haven't scared you though. Just an advice to make sure you are safe. Iam in medical field also.

hi innocentkadz you were well advised to be wo rried ., I was a nurses aide years back and while taking out an I.V I also jabbed my finger with the needle containing some blood of the patient. six weeks later I started vominting non stop and was hospitaliized in my own hospital . when =I turned yellow all over my doctor was happy as he knew then I had hepatitis,. was sick for over a month and was sent home by mayo clinic to stay on bed rest for four more weeks.Nobody at that time thought to worry about my welfare until I became ill. Now they know so much more and i am sure I would have been given some sort of preventative medications.I have no idea why they did not think hepatitis because four weeks after that patient went home she turned up with the disease and two weeks later I did too.