Stuck

So, a little embarrassing, but it did happen so I have to fess up. I stuck myself for the first time. I did think it would take me longer than 5 weeks for this to happen. Thank the Lord it was a clean needle. So I only contaminated instead of incident report, testing for the patient, me etc... all at the insurers expense. So none of that. It was a clean needle. It was with the same surgeon that intimidates me and I let it get to me. I put a hypo on the local syringe that she didn't' prefer and in her insistence, changed it quickly. There is a plastic tab that you cut off with special scissors. I was in a hurry and had seen others pull it off with their fingers. So I did that. Before I knew it I felt a strong vibration in my thumb. I looked down and noticed the needle sticking into the my thumb and had bent sideways and broken off when it hit the bone. It was an 18 gauge needle, which is not a small one. I had just a moment of shock, then damage control. We learn to not react until we have thought through everything, because that is usually when the contamination multiplies. If I were to contaminate my back table, I would have to scrap it all and start all over. This would be the worst thing you can do in my job. I backed away from the table, told the assistant surgeon that she would have to self serve instruments off of my mayo stand for a moment. I called over the circulator who I had to quickly convince this was a clean stick. So she helped me change my blood filled gloves in a sterile manor and get back to my job. I don't think the surgeon knew what happened which is great, she just knew I was MIA for a couple of minutes which I am sure didn't contribute to her confidence in me. But I continued like nothing happened doing my best to assist her.

So I learned a lot. No matter how stressful it is, I will take the time to be slow and methodical to insure safety for myself and everybody else in the room. After the surgery, I looked at my thumb that was already a nice shade of purple and still numb in a small spot.

I have shared a few of these stories inspired by intimidation, but I have had several surgeons tell me I am leaps and bounds from where most are after 5 weeks. I don't have to worry about any inflated ego, situations like the one described above put me right back in my place.