swung my arm and by accident i hit the cavitron tip that was hanging on to the dental operatory. is it considered a sharp stick injury if i scratched myself with it? i squeezed the area and it bled a little after forcefully squeezing it.
*feeling scared*
i know its a little too late as i was unsure what to do, but im filing an incident report. tomorrow.
patient is a 52yo woman with a hx of breast cancer. last physical exam was a year ago.
Hopefully your office has protocols for you to follow with exposure. It is definitely a stick and you can’t rely on the medical hx of the patient, get tested and have the patient get tested.
Treat it as if it were a needle stick. Follow OSHA protocols as such. Hopefully there’s no “next time” but if there is – don’t squeeze it. I always recommend that a sharps injury protocol list be posted in a conspicuous place (like in the sterile area) so you know exactly what to do and even what pages out of your OSHA manual to fill out. While you should seek treatment immediately, it’s never too late! Even if it’s just for your own piece of mind!
Go in and get a baseline taken and a 6 month follow up. I did exactly the game thing. Its a scary thing but I did it for the piece of mind. I hate those ops that you have to hang the ultrasonic up. Try an empty topical container to put over the tip after you used it. Its a pain to keep wiping it all the time but you’ll thank yourself later.
Definitely, treat it as a “needle stick”. Your OSHA manual will have proper protocol steps to go through. You can ask the patient to go and be tested, but they do not have to.
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