Needlestick injury

Re: Needlestick injury

Vicky RVN — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 15:21:19 GMT

Incorrect disposal of sharps really gets my goat...at my previous practice i felt a slight scratch as i was taking out clinical waste!!! Grrr there is no need, use the bloody sharps bins!!

Hope your finger is feeling a bit better now.

Re: Needlestick injury

Caro Laithwaite VN — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 09:34:35 GMT

I read about the 2ml on the package insert one day when l was going through a stage of reading the package inserts.

Re: Needlestick injury

Sal the 1st — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 09:22:14 GMT

would just like to say it was a vet who told me about 2mls euth juice bad news in humans, and a doctor who told me about the absorption through eyes and mucous membranes -but apologies if i got it wrong or worried anybody unnecessarily

Re: Needlestick injury

Christine Chapman — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 01:37:46 GMT

They say being a vet or vet nurse is one of the most dangerous jobs!!!

Re: Needlestick injury

Saskia Quinn — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 00:41:10 GMT

I once worked in a practice that wasnt very good (I learned) at disposing of sharps correctly (many years ago). One day, while carrying out the rubbish, my leg suffered the effects of a 16g x 1.5" needle shredding my leg. I still have the scar. God knows what was on the end of that needle but what upset me much more was the fact it had been disposed of in the normal waste bin and I suffered as a result

Re: Needlestick injury

Charlotte says smile — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 23:57:06 GMT

i actually had no idea about domitor! stabbed my finger before with it! will def be far more careful!

Re: Needlestick injury

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 23:17:28 GMT

Ok so no blowbacks with the domitor, that is scary.

Re: Needlestick injury

Gillian Mostyn — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 23:13:42 GMT

In reply to the original post - numbness usually settles after a time. I have had similar problems twice - once when I stuck a needle straight through my finger (doh!) and once when I got badly bitten by an eclectus parrot - my finger was numb for months - really freaked me out. But did settle eventually. If you are worried you should see a doc though.

My worst needlestick infury was when I was kneeling to induce a massive GSD in the days of 5% thio (my bosses drug of choice) - it freaked out - the 10ml syringe flew up into the air and came own directly into my quads - don't know how much thio managed to find its way into my muscle but I had a purple bruise about the size of my hand and it hurt like hell for days!!!!! It stuck in like a dart - looked quite funny if it hadn't been my leg it was stuck in!

Re: Needlestick injury

Gillian Mostyn — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 23:07:38 GMT

[quote user="Kerry Haigh"] I found out the other day that it only takes 2ml of pentobarb to kill a human.[/quote]

The lethal dose of pentobarbitone for a human is from 2-10g IV, IM, per rectum or per os. Pentoject is 20% or 200mg/ml. Thus you would need at least 10ml, more likely 50ml for a healthy fit person, . I cannot imagine any scenario where you would manage to ingest/absorb or inject that much!!!!

The drug you should all be far more fearful of is domitor (and other related drugs)- it is far more potent in humans than in animals and is easily absorbed across mucous membranes. Having googled it, 0.12ml has been used for sedation in a human! Scared now?????Lol.

Re: Needlestick injury

Sal the 1st — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 22:17:08 GMT

my pleasure

but seriously folks any accidental drug administration or accident full stop make sure you mention it to the boss and write it in the accident book! it might come back and bite you on the derriere if you dont. If you dont take it seriously nobody else does and the same thing will keep happening until somebody gets really hurt

Re: Needlestick injury

Caro Laithwaite VN — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 22:12:24 GMT

I have been hit by blow backs a fair bit, spat it out , rinsed my mouth and or eyes and gone on with things just didn't figure it was serious... Thanks Sal now l get to worry more

Re: Needlestick injury

Sal the 1st — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 22:07:15 GMT

bet the 10mls euth juice in the mouth was spat out very rapidly the stuff tastes vile. And before anybody makes any smart comments no I havnt tried to drink the stuff I had a spray back into my face and not only does it taste evil but it burns your mouth - and yes I did go to casualty, even tho my boss at the time said there would be no need ( ie because they needed me at work). The casualty doc took it seriously, this stuff CAN BE absorbed through the eye and mucous membranes and even if it isnt enough to 'drop' you it can be very irritant (not to mention those bits of dry blood that are often found floating in the bottle where the euth juice left in the syringe when too much was drawn up for the pts is squirted back)

Re: Needlestick injury

Christine Chapman — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 20:40:04 GMT

Nicky, I hope you have had a doctor look at it! Let us know how things are.

Re: Needlestick injury

Caro Laithwaite VN — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 19:58:24 GMT

I am assuming they will err on the major side of caution when giving the data. If someone accidentally self injected. It would not have been used on a human but they have extrapolated that with metabolism, weight, body mass, age, health etc dependant. They will have to give the worse case scenario. If they said 5 and someone died with 2 then there would be a problem wiht 2 it is pretty obvious that it need only be a small amount. As to if it would actually kill you at 2ml l doubt we will ever find out.
When we PTS we have to make sure that the animal does die so we will use a much bigger dose.

(does that ramble make sense ?)

Re: Needlestick injury

Vickie Boswell — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 19:47:21 GMT

I think its worth a trip to the docs, would be surprised if that little amount caused any damage, and think the needle has probally done all the damage.

I didn't realise such a small amount could kill a human either - why do we give 20mls+ to large dogs? Most humans are at least the size of a large dog!

Re: Needlestick injury

Charlotte says smile — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 17:35:48 GMT

oooh is that really true about the 2mls! one of our vets once got 10mls in her mouth (dont ask me how! its just one of the stories she tells!)

i would go see your doc asap

Re: Needlestick injury

Caro Laithwaite VN — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 15:21:40 GMT

I knew about the 2ml which is why l never carry a syringe with the needle on, put it on when ready to use just in case.
I would be more worried like Sal says of nerve damage. And pentobarb is non sterile unlike other drugs l guess they do not see any need to produce sterile drugs that are going to kill an animal anyhow so there is that to take into account for any injuries.

Having said that have used it watered down for 2 non stop fitting dogs that nothing would touch as it is basically over strong Sagital which we can now not get. It is about 60% stronger than Sagital.

Re: Needlestick injury

Sal the 1st — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 15:02:10 GMT

yes I had been told 2 mls or less to kill a human. Get it checked pronto - and not just from the fact that it contained euth juice but also from the fact you have nerves and stuff in this area that might not be feeling too happy at the moment

Re: Needlestick injury

Kerry Spain — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:28:15 GMT

aaaaaaaaaaah! Hell get to the docs!! I found out the other day that it only takes 2ml of pentobarb to kill a human... not sure how true that is but go and get it checked out anyways!

Re: Needlestick injury

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:03:06 GMT

I agree, get to the docs, one of our vets managed to get euth in his eye, he spent the day in hospital on fluids as a precaution.Better still phone NHS 24 dont wait till monday.

Re: Needlestick injury

Katy — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 13:22:58 GMT

Oh heck. Think you should go to the Drs about that.

Sounds a bit dodgy