Last nights shift started on a bad note.... When I was moving a patient's belongings, I felt a poke in my thigh as the bag brushed up against me. I looked down to see a needle sticking out of the bag. Knowing this patient was a heroin addict and had Hep C, I was a little freaked out. Security searched the belongings and found a few used needles, one of which was uncapped. They filed an incident report and sent me to the ER to have my blood drawn. They also drew blood on the patient for HIV. Eek! Crazy night!

Yikes! :(

Crazy! Hope you are ok

Scary stuff!:O

Thanks for your concern.... So far everything's just fine. Definitely a little scare for me. The patient tested negative for HIV, however there is a 6 month refractory period... she could have been exposed within the last 6 months but may not be showing up in the bloodwork yet. Apparently the ER was supposed to ask me if I wanted to start on the HIV prophylactic medications, since they are usually started within 2 hours of exposure. I got a call Monday for a followup on my "incident" and went in for an appointment Tuesday. I decided not to take the meds, considering the likelihood of me contracting HIV,not to mention the flu-like symptoms you experience during the couple month treatment. Anyway, now I just have to follow up in 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months and then a year.