Needle Stick...a nurses nightmare

Did Charge Nurse of the floor today...all seemed to be rocking along...typical day. Then at 10:00 one of my nurses approached me, eyes full of fear and holding out her hand. "I've had a needle stick." The safety needle which is supposed to retract had failed, she didn't notice, and jabbed her finger after an injection to a patient with a questionable lifestyle. Though many improvements have been made for safety, it still happens. We sent her off to another lab for bloodwork(baseline). Needed as proof that she had no disease at the time, in case, God forbid, hepatitis or HIV should later happen. After patients consent, same labs drawn from him. I know until his labs return negative she will not sleep well and will be in fear. It is the nurses nightmare. We each took on her patients and the day progressed well until almost the end of the shift...chest pain...ekg showed changes... stoke patient having probable MI! Family arrived just as it occurred..good thing...and we sent her off acutely to nearby ER. Thanks to excellent staff it was caught early and I think patient will be fine. Change of shift...able to hand over a stable group. Another day done. I want to think about my vacation as I am now officially off for 3 weeks...but that will come later tonite. For now, I ponder the day.