If you had injuries and bruises and your healthcare professional thinks that you’re at low risk of infection, you may not need any treatment.

If there’s a higher risk of infection from your injuries and bruises, they may consider antibiotic treatment, immunisation against hepatitis B, or treatment to prevent HIV.

With injuries and bruises, there’s a high risk of infection with HIV. Your healthcare professional may consider treatment called post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). It is sometimes possible to halt the development of HIV in the first 72 hours after infection.  PEP usually involves treatment with anti-HIV medicines for four weeks.

Getting help and support

If you have injuries and bruises, your healthcare professional may recommend that your care includes support from your employer’s Occupational Health service, who can advise you about issues such as taking sick leave, or psychological support to help with the uncertainty and stress that you may feel after your injuries and bruises.

If you injure yourself with a used needle while you’re at work, you should report the incident immediately to your supervisor, or manager. Also see ‘reporting needlestick injuries’ below.

Increased risk for healthcare workers

Some people have an increased risk of needlestick injuries as a result of their job. This mainly affects people who work in healthcare such as nurses, doctors, surgeons, dentists, dental nurses and hygienists, and laboratory technicians.

Between 1997 and 2007, in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, 3,773 incidents were reported in which healthcare workers were exposed to blood-borne viruses while doing their job. In these incidents, the healthcare workers were exposed to blood, or body fluids, known to be positive for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, or HIV.

These incidents include 14 cases of hepatitis C infection in healthcare workers in England, after percutaneous injuries. Percutaneous means injuries where the skin is broken by a needle, or other sharp object, a human bite, or a human scratch. No cases of hepatitis C infection were reported in Wales or Northern Ireland.

Since 1999, no new cases of HIV have been reported from percutaneous injuries in healthcare workers exposed to HIV positive patients. Before that, five cases had been reported.

Vaccination against hepatitis B is recommended for some people who work in health care, including:

• healthcare workers who may come into direct contact with blood, or other body fluids,
• healthcare workers who are at risk of needlestick, or sharps, injuries, and
• laboratory staff who handle material that may contain the hepatitis B virus.

Increased risk for people in other jobs

People working in other services and industries may also have an increased risk of needlestick injuries. For example:

• the police,
• prison and probation services,
• customs and excise,
• social workers,
• funeral workers,
• body piercers and body artists, and
• building and demolition workers.

Preventing needlestick injuries

Healthcare employers and other organisations have safety procedures in place to protect the health of their employees, and prevent needlestick injuries. These procedures are called standard or universal precautions, and include steps such as:

• washing your hands after contact with each patient,
• washing your hands after handling blood, or body fluids,
• always wearing disposable gloves when working with blood, or body fluids,
• protecting your eyes, by wearing a visor, goggles, or safety spectacles,
• covering any cuts with waterproof plasters, and
• disposing of used needles and sharps safely.

Needles used to inject illegal drugs should never be re-used or shared.

Reporting needlestick injuries

If you injure yourself with a used needle while you’re at work, your employer will probably ask you to fill in an accident, or incident, form. You’ll also be asked to report your injury to your line manager, or a senior nurse, or manager.

If you work for an healthcare employer, they will probably have an Occupational Health service. You should report your injury to Occupational Health as soon as possible. Other employers and organisations may also have Occupational Health services.

Your employer, or healthcare professional, may also report the incident to other organisations. For example:

• Needlestick and sharps injuries that expose healthcare workers to blood-borne viruses should be reported to the Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections surveillance scheme.
• Employers must report exposure to hepatitis B , hepatitis C, or HIV to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR).

The European Union (EU) has proposed legislation and other initiatives, to protect healthcare workers from blood-borne infections after needlestick injuries. These proposals include recording all injuries caused by needles or other medical sharps.

Relate articles:

1. Injur­ies and bruises– What you should know 
2. Emer­gen­cies – A crit­ical or life threat­en­ing situ­ations
3. Improve your First Aids skill (part 1)
4. How to help someone who is chok­ing
5. Belly But­ton dis­charge
6. How to apply a band­age and the three main types
7. Infec­tions from used needles or sharps 
8. Tech­nique for apply­ing plasters and dress­ings
9. Radi­ation emer­gen­cies
10. Five poten­tially ser­i­ous con­di­tions your baby may face

You have permission to reprint what you just read. The only requirement is including the following footer with it…
”Article by allvitalpoints.com, visit http://www.allvitalpoints.com for more original content like this. Reprint permission granted with this footer included.”

Related posts:

1. Injuries and bruises– What you should know