Question
What steps would you take if you had sustained a needlestick injury?
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Ask for advice from the emergency department, report to occupational health and fill in an incident form.
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Gently make the wound bleed, place under running water and wash thoroughly with soap and water. Complete an incident form and inform your manager. Co-operate with any action to test yourself or the patient for infection with a bloodborne virus but do not obtain blood or consent for testing from the patient yourself; this should be done by someone not involved in the incident.
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Take blood from patient and self for Hep B screening and take samples and form to Bacteriology. Call your union representative for support. Make an appointment with your GP for a sickness certificate to take time off until the wound site has healed so you dont contaminate any other patients.
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Wash the wound with soap and water. Cover any wound with a waterproof dressing to prevent entry of any other foreign material
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