Graphic account of needlestick injury whilst working in Ebola Treatment Unit

Thinking about the impact of sharps injury?  Concerned about sharps safety? Learning of the psychological trauma that goes hand-in-hand with sharps injury?

Read this!

“While providing clinical care in the confirmed ward of the Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) at the Kenema Government Hospital (KGH) in Kenema, Sierra Leone, I accidentally stuck an 18-gauge hollow-bore needle deep into my left thumb. I could immediately feel some blood oozing under my gloves, and I squeezed the area of penetration to try to promote additional bleeding. I rinsed the outside of my gloves with the only available option—0.5% bleach. In an ETU, one cannot simply remove one’s gloves and clean one’s hands with soap and water as one would with a needle stick in other clinical environments. After the momentary shock and embarrassment subsided, I notified my clinical partner about what transpired and then called by radio to have an urgent egress from the ETU.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4347316/pdf/tropmed-92-225.pdf

 

 

 

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