Buckeye Surgeon recalls a time when he was stuck by a needle, and talks about the emotional turmoil that accompanies it:
Rarely do we visit those dark places of the soul where our ultimate weaknesses are exposed. Rarely do we acknowledge our ineluctable mortality. It’s too much. It throws us off our fragile equilibrium. There’s too much to do in the here and now. But the time will come for all of us. The day of reckoning is unavoidable. Whether it’s lump in the breast or a heart attack at age 47 or a sudden stroke or a car that runs a red light. Eventually, there’s a needle stick that gets us all. And I think it hurts, initially, no matter how old you are when it happens.
Despite the very small chance of HIV transmission from a needle stick, it does little to lesson to worry.
Related posts:
- Fine needle aspiration
- Ways you can die from having sex
- Number needed to treat: Time to let the secret out
- Obesity and heart attacks
- The anti-smoking poster-boy
- My take: Carrot > stick, the pandering NEJM, retail clinics
- Stents take a hit
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If there was ever the definition of occupational hazard in hospitals, needlesticks would be it. It’s always scary to read the stats on how many of these injuries are reported.
I just read how OSHA fined a dental practice $76,500 for bloodborne pathogens violations related to a needlestick, so from a financial perspective the risk are significant, too.
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