NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

Phrin Vernon RVN — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 22:43:32 GMT

[quote user="sal the 1st"]

for those that do give blood but neglect to mention that they have had a needle stick injury - does it concern you at all that you have come into contact with a patient contaminated/drug contaminated needle - chances are you will be ok and not suffer from the incident but what if you werent ok and what if you were incubating something nasty? your inmmune system may be coping ok with that but what if the person who was receiving your generous donation had an immune system that was not just compromised but absolutely screwed?

ok I know the chances of anything happening is remote - and dont get me wrong I have been very grateful for the blood transfusions I have received in the past - but these safety measures are put in place for a reason.

[/quote]

Whoops - I wasn't saying that I knew of anyone who had failed to mention a needle stick injury when giving blood - I was just pondering that I know a fair few vets and nurses who donate regularly, and this thread would suggest that most nurses (and therefore probably vets), stab themselves a few times during their career - at a guess I would say I average a needle stick or scalpel (or towel clip!!!! as happened the other day - yowch!) injury at least once in any 18mth period in practice... and I am not particularly clumsy!

I agree though, that the questions are asked for a reason, and it just isn't worth the risk!

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

Kim Buckley — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 22:35:26 GMT

[quote user="Claire York RVN MBVNA"]

[quote user="sal the 1st"]

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I whole heartedly agree Sal. The questions are asked for a reason

[/quote]

I regularly give blood and I've never really thought about it to be honest. If I were to stab myself with a needle contaminated by blood then maybe but all the times I've done it, it's been with a clean needle. You would hope that if you had something really nasty then they'd be able to pick it up when they test your blood. I know it's takes 6 months for HIV to show.

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

Claire Cameron — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 22:29:18 GMT

[quote user="sal the 1st"]

[/quote]

I whole heartedly agree Sal. The questions are asked for a reason

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

Sal the 1st — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 22:28:26 GMT

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

Phrin Vernon RVN — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:58:23 GMT

[quote user="Rachel Jayne"]

I've lost count too.

I went to give blood once & was turned away because of it! (I have mentioned this on a post about giving blood before I think) I was obviously so blase about it... the blood service people were just sat there open-mouthed like goldfish!

[/quote]

Haha!! I have had that too!

The only time I have been able to give blood was when I was out of practice for a few years, whilst at home with my then baby, and after I had been tested for everything under the sun!

Plenty of vets & nurses give blood though - do they just omit to mention the fact that they have (probably) stuck themselves with a needle in the last 12 months.... probably one that has either been contaminated with drugs, or already been stuck in a patient or both!

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

Rachel Jayne — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:38:21 GMT

I've lost count too.

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

amy sinton — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:53:08 GMT

Found this quote in an abstract

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2465782/ where the full article is available

"It appears that needlestick injuries are very common among veterinary personnel and that serious adverse effects, while uncommon, do occur"

Any Thoughts?

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

amy sinton — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:41:15 GMT

thank you all for your replies! i really appreciate you sharing your stories on the site. having worked in both the NHS and the veterinary industry i am amazed at some of the injuries caused by caring for patients. it would be great to get some documented information in relation to needle stick injuries- anybody got any ideas? i came accross one paper in the veterinary field which looked into it however it used a lot of human medicine references.

Thanks Again.

Amy

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

StephSVN — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:40:51 GMT

I have lost count of the number of times I have stabbed my own fingers with a needle - and have never had a problem. Those occaisions when there was a drug in the syringe I wrote it in the accident book, but other times have not got round to it.

One particularly scary occasion me and a new grad vet had admitted parvo pups, all on drips in a walk in kennel as previous post - not entirely sure what happened but I ended up with a needle attached to a synulox syringe going into my temple when the puppy yelped and the nervous vet jumped (!) - luckily went along under the skin rather than straight in or could have been a lot worse, and I try not to think about how close it was to my eye.

At the time I didn't realise how bad it was until I came out of isolation and another nurse told me I had blood literally right down the side of my face and onto my neck! It got a bit swollen and bruised quite badly which later turned a fetching yellow colour but was ok. Vet had a serious lecture about needle safety and was jokingly reminded of it regularly!

It definitely reminded me just how aware we need to be though.

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

bumble bee — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:23:10 GMT

HAve had loads!! Sorest was euthatal OMG! Finger went black & throbbed like heck . thought if was gunna fall off! Went down after few days ! Usually oil based injections that hurt most!

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

Sue Cox — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:34:41 GMT

ha, ha- towel clips phrin, towel clips

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

Phrin Vernon RVN — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:20:48 GMT

[quote user="STRVN"]

[quote user="Kate Claxton"]

Far less chance of getting a needle stick in the NHS though - less recapping of sharps! x

[/quote]

I heard that about the NHS, they dont re cap as most needle stick injuries are actually caused by re capping

[/quote]

we have been told also that recapping in the practical exams is a big H&S no-no!

in practice though, i usually do, and haven't had too many needle stick injuries - have managed to stab another nurse when taking blood though - oops!

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:38:36 GMT

[quote user="Kate Claxton"]

Far less chance of getting a needle stick in the NHS though - less recapping of sharps! x

[/quote]

I heard that about the NHS, they dont re cap as most needle stick injuries are actually caused by re capping

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

Nick Shackleton — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:45:50 GMT

[quote user="Nb Lois"]Every incident i have had in work no matter how minor has always gone into the accident book. This is part of our training and im quite sure the majority of us also do this

[/quote]

I had my own Accident book!

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

Naomi Jackson RVN — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:53:46 GMT

Every incident i have had in work no matter how minor has always gone into the accident book. This is part of our training and im quite sure the majority of us also do this

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

Vicky RVN — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:16:26 GMT

Blimey it surprises me people give themselves serious needle stick injuries and don't report it! Like Sal said, it is your evidence of what happened if it is needed. Thankfully i've never really jabbed myself...only grazed myself with needles with no drug or contaminants on them. Oh god i've said it now...*touches wood*

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

Sal the 1st — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:15:07 GMT

this thread is annoying me!

at the end of the day everybody is responsible for not only their own health and safety but also that of their colleagues. If you dont report these incidences it makes it harder to identify how they can be prevented in future. (Sometimes patterns emerge when you look through accident books and you can see ways of preventing further accidents) Near misses should also be recorded.

Also think on this if you received an accidental injection either with a needle containing a drug or an infectious agent and suffered as a result and were unable to work. Boss gets fed up because you arent at work so decides to get rid of you. You end up taking legal action. Where is the actual evidence of this accidental injection taking place?

Dont neglect the accident book - its there for a reason.

I have always kept the accident book with the first aid box in every place I have worked - the first aid box was also labelled 'if you need this you need the accident book!'

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

SmegSlayer — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:34:39 GMT

i also remember at one practice the story of how the deputy head nurse and the head nurse were pre-meding an animal together and the deputy accidentally gave the head nurse acp and vetergesic

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

SmegSlayer — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:29:41 GMT

i remember i was all alone at the weekend and we had some labrador parvo pups that had been found wandering in some nearby woods. they were all about 4 months old, all on drips and all behaving like typical lab pups. they were all in together in a walk in kennel.

one of the drips had stopped so i stuck a needle and syringe into the port of the drip bag to get some flush and i got knocked by one of the pups. the needle went straight out the other side of the port and into the medial joint of the index finger of my other hand which had been holding the bag steady. i felt the needle hit bone. i woke up about 2am that night in hige amounts of pain and by the following morning i couldn't use my 1st two fingers coz they wouldn't bend. i didn't report it and took ibuprofen and it was ok after a couple of days.

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

Kim Buckley — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:14:57 GMT

I do it all the time. I was once going to take blood from a cat and it jumped before I'd even broken the skin and I shoved the needle into the nurse who was holding the cat instead! Oops!

I was having a really rubbish weekend at work and I'd worked for 14 hours straight and I was drawing up some flush with a yellow needle and it somehow ended up in the palm of my hand with the syringe attached. Hurt a lot!!

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

Nick Shackleton — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:05:47 GMT

[quote user="hissycat"]

soooo many times it never worried me at all to be honest, though now I work in the NHS it is obviously a much greater concern, makes you think how blase we are in vet practice!

[/quote]

Indeed althou, we mainly use quills for filling syringes!

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

Kate Claxton DipAVN(Med)VN — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:03:28 GMT

Far less chance of getting a needle stick in the NHS though - less recapping of sharps! x

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

hissycat — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:00:22 GMT

soooo many times it never worried me at all to be honest, though now I work in the NHS it is obviously a much greater concern, makes you think how blase we are in vet practice!

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

Maisy — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:06:03 GMT

Yup, quite a few-very clumsy Luckily haven't had anything too bad as a result but did stab my hand quite bad when trying to recap (doh!) and lost quite a bit of feeling in the area for a week or so afterwards. Can't remember what the drug was, think it was Rimadyl. Wrote it in the accident book as one of the partners was there and saw it all!

Re: NEEDLE STICK INJURIES

S-J — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:55:44 GMT

iv have had a few, my little finger has a tendency to get in the way when drawing out of a vial, and i did drop a catheter the other week which somehow ended up stabbing me in the arm. Yes i am clumsy