Need Help With A Needlestick

[Diazepam618]

to the op you refer to filling tubes, are you talking about drawing labs?, and why would snyone drw blood?, do you you guys have some sort of lab in the back of you ambulance?

[MedicAR]

It's all academic now.

I was sent home early today to "think it over" and I seriously doubt that they are going to keep me if I should refuse to resign. I still have yet to see a policy or procedure on what to do about a needlestick. I was told that they are at every station and "everyone" knows where. I was quick to point out that two shift captains and an infection control officer hadn't found one yet. Their reply? If I can't find something, I should research it. Geez.......

I was also given a written reprimand for refusing to take a transfer (scheduled) with a new piece of equipment that still has no written protocol on its use. Is this normal in EMS? Am I expecting too much? The equipment, a portable ventilator for God's sakes, had a 20 minute in-service and has no written procedure on its use. To make matters worse, we had two trainers on this and the first two times I had it on the rig a different trainer was with me. One says titrate for effect, the other say change nothing, the setting are medical orders. No one to this day knows how to calculate how long various oxygen cylinders will last on various settings for FiO2, so a long-distance transfer (not out of the question to have a 3-4 hour trip) is a matter of complete guesswork. I should know, because I was party to the first bad guess. We had to have another service 180 miles from home bail us out because we sucked every bottle on the truck dry.

In hindsight, I'm appalled that I stayed as long as I did. That was a tremendous risk to myself, my certification and even my family.

I may be hard to work with, I may have a bad attitude, I may not radiate joy everytime I walk into a room. I don't know, all of that was thrown at me today. I have my doubts. But damn it, I want what's best for my patients, the service and me. If that means I'm a dishwasher tomorrow night, so be it.

to the op you refer to filling tubes, are you talking about drawing labs?, and why would snyone drw blood?, do you you guys have some sort of lab in the back of you ambulance?

We draw blood for most of our local hospitals. If we start an IV, we make the attempt in an effort to save the patient a second stick. A stronger effort is made on cardiac calls so that there will be blood for analysis from the moment the event was happening which is much more telling than 30 minutes or more after the fact.

[FireMedic65]

Wow, your place of employment sucks. Not quite sure what else to say. They seem pretty unprofessional. Sort of like where I work *rolls eyes*, but we won't get into that. Hope things work out for you.

[paramedicmike]

Everything I can think of has already been said. Document, document, document. Get a good lawyer. Both of which you're doing.

Just wanted to say hang in there and good luck! I hope you "stick" it to your employer that will ensure that they don't endanger either other employees or patients again.

While trying to find the silver lining, if they fire you you can then add wrongful termination to your lawsuit. That's maybe worth something?

Good luck!

-be safe

[MedicAR]

Actually, I'm giving everything over to OSHA. At a glance on their webiste, I found the following violations.

No exposure policy readily available to all employees

Decon areas without foot, elbow, or electronic faucets.

No annual updates to exposure policy

No annual exposure refresher (at no expense to the employees, during work hours)

Improper cleaning solutions (409 doesn't cut it)

Poor record keeping--files are not updated regularly

Employees working without their annual TB skin test

No eye wash station

Improper storage of infectious materials (red-bag items)

No kidding, it took 5 minutes to see all of these on the OSHA website.

[VentMedic]

In the meantime, what are you doing about the situation at hand?

You are now too far out for prophylactic treatment if that was the route you would choose.

However, you could still get a baseline HIV and Hepatitis at the county health department at minimal charge. Then, you may also need to get a followup in a few months as the CDC and OSHA guidelines recommend. This may give you some piece of mind and provide you with additional documentation for the future.

While HIV testing is not always required, I still recommend some to get tested depending on exposure level in both professional and personal environments. We are getting too many newly diagnosed cases from those that missed all the good education provided in the 80s and 90s because they had not been born yet.