Needle stick injury

Can't believe somebody as careful as me got a needle stick injury!!! Was on my nursing night shift in the hospital. As usual, tidying the patients up, put them to bed, serve drinks, make sure everything is in place etc etc. Then I saw this bin which is full in the treatment room, so decided to change the bag in it (f.y.i this is not even my job, it's the domestic's, but since I was in a good mood, I decided to do it anyway). Got the plastic bags out, overfilled, so took me a while to tie it up. Then carry it to the disposal area.

Then, ouch, something sharp behind my calf - just a tiny bit. Then I saw this needle poking out the plastic bag... Quickly i dumb the bag away and check on my calf... phew just a scratch! Washed the area quickly. Then i examined the needle, another relief, was a 10ml syringe fill up with clear colourless fluid, supposedly saline drawn up to flush a cannula (note that normally a needle if not connected to a blood sample bottle is only used to draw up saline or drugs from the tube and discarded, as flushing do not require a needle).

After analysing the situation, I concluded that it was some stupid junior doctors' deed, who had drawn up the saline and decided not to use it, but instead of disposing into sharps bin, he/she threw it into a normal waste bin. How dumb, how unprofessional, how unethical! Nurses are better trained in terms of health and safety issues in the ward, and in a haematology ward they have no reason not to know the protocols well, only dumb junior doctors do things like this.

Am I safe then? Well there is a slight risk of infection. But since there wasn't a deep penetration, and that the registrar in the ward confirmed with me that there wasn't any high risk patients in the ward, and the nature of the fluid filled in the syringe itself, I am quite safe... Well, the protocol requires me to have a blood sample taken, have an incident report and followed up by the occupational health, fingers crossed. Hopefully I don't become too famous in the department!

Lesson learned:
1. Do not be kind-hearted and do others' job.
2. Be careful, even in the safest situation.
3. Scream, kick, abuse and curse them to hell - those doctors who don't practice safely.
4. Be a 110% safe doctor when I start my first job later this year.


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