Should I have reported this as a bloodborne pathogen exposure?

[engine173351]

Okay, I know I'm going to probably get yelled at. Let's start from the beginning. I've been doing ride time with the local ambulance service for the past month as a first responder. Last week, we responded to a female who had slit her right wrist in an apparent suicide attempt. The laceration was approximately an inch long and was bleeding minimally. Upon our arrival, she had visible dried blood on the front of her shirt. As for her hands, I did not notice any blood because I didn't look. Because she had been sitting in the back of a police patrol vehicle (the officer found her and requested us), myself and an EMT-B utilized the extremity carry to move her to the cot, as she was ETOH and wouldn't move by herself. As the EMT-B took the legs, I placed my hands under her armpits and was proceeding to grab her arms, but instead, she grabbed my bare arms with her hands. As soon as we got her moved to the cot, I inspected both of my arms and looked for any visible blood, but didn't see any (I assumed that since she was bleeding from the laceration, she might have blood on her hands). Once we arrived at the ED, I washed both arms with hot water and soap, and then covered them in alcohol sanitizer. But since I didn't see any visible blood on my arms, and didn't have any open breaks of the skin, I didn't think anything of it (which was a really stupid move on my part), and therefore didn't report it to anyone.

A couple of days ago, an EMT-B from another shift cut his finger with a shard of glass that had a patient's blood on it. He was cleaning the ambulance and didn't see it. He reported it immediately to the ED, who placed him on medication and was able to get the patient to submit to a blood test. After that occurred, I began to think that I had made a mistake by not reporting the incident that I experienced. What should I have done, and what should I do know? Is it still worth it to report this? And who do I report it to?

[HotelCo]

Intact skin = no exposure.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Timmy]

As your skin was still intact I would classify this as a very low exposure, maybe submit a near miss report but I don’t think there is anything to actually report about…

If it was a needle stick injury or blood to blood contact then that’s a different story.

[fiznat]

I kept waiting for you to get to the part where there was actually an exposure... You're good brah.

[Richard B the EMT]

Oops, there are now 2 posting strings on this topic from this original poster.