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Essay / How Accidental Sticks Can Affect a Phlebotomist
As a phlebotomist, there is always the worry that an accidental stick may occur at some point during your career. The journal I read and published in "Clinical Advisor" discussed an incident with a phlebotomist in the emergency department. A man called "Mr. P", was a phlebotomist in a hospital where he worked as well as in the laboratory. Mr. P went to take a blood sample from a patient on a busy Saturday evening when his mentally unstable patient attacked him with the needle he had already used to take her blood sample. Mr. P then learns from another doctor at the hospital that the patient is HIV positive and suffers from hepatitis C. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayMr. P was advised to consult an infectious disease specialist immediately. Months passed as the medications he took transformed his usually cheerful and light-hearted personality into a moody and depressed person. Not only did his professional life change after the incident, his colleagues looked at him with pity and the treatments made him sick, but it also affected his personal life with his family. He was afraid to make love with his wife or share a toothbrush with his child. Even though the specialist told him it was 95% unlikely to contract HIV or hepatitis, he still had to wait months to know for sure and be able to relax. He sued the hospital, claiming nurses neglected to tell him the patient was unstable and her medical diagnosis. Stating that if he had known, he would have taken more precautions with the patient. Minimize the risk of an incident occurring. Mr. P won the case and was awarded $375,000 in damages. This concerns a phlebotomist because it shows how incidents like this occasionally occur and that a phlebotomist should always take appropriate precautions whether or not they know a patient's medical condition. It also showed the risk that phlebotomists take on a daily basis, that they are at higher risk of contracting certain diseases. In addition to showing the consequences and seriousness of simple contact with this type of risk. Mr. P's life has changed, in terms of his job and his personal life. Even though he was told he had a 95% chance of not developing HIV or hepatitis, he still had to wait six months to find out. 100%.