How dangerous is nursing & how frequent are accidental needlesticks in nursing?

Question

I was online researching nursing last night. I ran across a couple of articles on nursing. I was surprised to see that according to the articles 600,000 nurses per year in America get accidently stuck by needles when they are giving patients injections or dealing with IV lines. If you are a nurse or in nursing school, has this ever happened to you? From the article that I read, I got the impression that this happens to nurses on a regular basis. It seems as if nurses are at high risk of contracting blood-borne infectious diseases. RNs, LPNs, CNAs, MDs please share your 1st hand knowledge/experience on this (2nd hand knowledge would be appreciated too).

Answer 1

Most needlesticks are the result of a nurse NOT following proper procedures.
I have worked as a Nursing Assistant/Cardiac Monitor for 6 years and I am in nursing school now. The biggest risk to health care workers is Hep. B. However, if you follow your company's proceedures, that risk is greatly minimized. IV's are needle-less now in modern facilities. I don't know anyone who has been stuck giving an injection. Needle manufacturers have several differnt types that allow you to use their safety devices easily. Docs RARELY touch needles. The biggest risk is to housekeeping and NAa who are cleaning the beds and are stuck by a needle in the bed. This HAS happened in the facility where I work.

Answer 2

Just my personal experience, if you are careful about universal precautions, and care of sharps, there is not need to get a needle stick of cut.

I have been in health care for over 30 years, I have worked in all areas of the hospital, including: rapidly moving trauma ORs, trauma rooms, and helicopters. I have had only one incident in which I was stuck by a needle. In that case, I was standing next to a patient in an OR, when the anesthesiologist, threw a syringe onto his supply cart, it bounced off and stuck in my leg. The needle, incidentally, had never come in contact with the patient directly, and was only used to inject IV tubing.

When you consider the number of needles used in a single average size hospital on any given day, and then the number of hospitals in the US, 600,000 is not a significant number. But it does, in many cases, represent nurses and doctors who are tired or distracted, and not observing the proper precautions. With the self retracting safe needles in use today, the number of sticks should significantly decrease anyway.

Answer 3

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