Needle Stick by Staff at TDMP at School - Has this happened to your CWD?

We had a situation happen at school last week, and I had never heard of anything like this happening here on CWD. Can you tell me if you've ever had a staff member at your child's school (nurse or TDMP) accidentally poke himself/herself with your CWD's needle after a shot? If so, were you asked to have your child's blood drawn for a baseline at Occupational Health to make sure the staff person did not catch a bloodborne disease from your child?

I can't imagine that we're the first ones to have a staff member stick themselves with a pen needle tip/shot. I've just never seen this brought up here.

This was such a bad experience for us. Please let me know if you've been asked to take your child to get his/her blood drawn after an accidental needle stick at school.

Thank you!

ETA: My title doesn't make sense. I need coffee! Sorry about that.

 

No experience here.
I'm so sorry, this sounds like a completely unfun situation.

 

yeah that happened with my nurse once.

They tried to get a blood test in, but the doctor they used (for lack of a better word) sucked. he tried getting blood 2 times in each arm and failed each time. OW! It was the only time a doctor let me punch him though!

They made me go to someone else 2 weeks later who actually managed to get blood. and surprise, im disease free

 

It was unfun for sure. The staff member called the morning after this happened and apologized profusely. She wanted to know if I would be willing to take Connor for a blood draw at the hospital so she wouldn't have to go back herself for the six more blood tests over the year and for her peace of mind (to know if he has any blood borne diseases). She did give me the option of refusing. If it was a nurse, I probably would have refused. But, she's a TDMP (volunteer) who takes care of Connor when the nurse is not at the school. We ended up letting it be Connor's decision. The staff member, me and Connor met in a conference room to tell him what had happened. He chose to go get the blood draw (which he's really scared of!) so that she wouldn't have to keep going back. It was a really emotional day for us. I really thought the whole thing was so unfair to my child with diabetes.

 

I'm so sorry! That really sounds like a miserable experience. I can't believe you had to go back after that experience. Did they give you an option to refuse to go?

I was lucky that I had a little tube of EMLA cream that I put on Connor's arm when I picked him up from school. He was numb in that area when they did the blood draw, and they were fast and efficient. The hospital nurses were so kind to Connor. I was really upset at the unfairness of this blood draw (3 big vials). He did nothing wrong.

 

They told us about the other option after i had already gotten my blood taken. I think they were purposely not telling us about it

 

Wow, sorry this happened.. I would have never made Kaylee do a blood draw or left the decision up to her.. If I had left it up to her she would have done it out of guilt (I know her, she's always thinking of other people, putting herself last)..

Personally, I think it was wrong of the staff member to ask your child to do a blood draw, he deals with enough.. she could have easily done the blood draw in with yearly blood draw or whatever, its 'no big deal' to an adult.. to a child, its a huge deal. Sorry you, and your son, was put into that situation.

 

May I ask how old you were when this happened? You didn't know that you could opt out? That makes me upset. I'm really sorry.

 

It seems like an easy decision to help the care provider out. This is the person you are trusting to respond quickly and accurately to your childs needs while at school. Why would you do anything to have them feel resentment towards you and possibly just provide the bare minimal care for your child? I would instantly emphasis with their situation and help out the best I could.

 

The OP said it would be six more tests not just one - otherwise it would be easy for the staff to have it done that way.

I think this is one of those situations that isn't fair to anyone - unfortunately. The adult is a volunteer and agreed to be trained and they stepped up to take care of the child. We want people to "step up" and help. The child certainly gets poked enough - and is a child - and did nothing wrong.

I guess if this happened to us I would encourage William to go in for the draw as an acknowledgement of appreciation to this person - but that is based on his age, etc. He is also scared of blood draws and hates them but he is old enough to understand the issue. If there was another accidental stick - no.

I think Connor was super brave and kind to do that. Kudos to him.

Interesting issue and thread - I think what a parent/child end up doing is situational and one of those YDMV situations.

I'm curious who paid for the draw and how it was arranged however - and if the staff member had to go back 6 times who pays for that? The school system?

 

Good for your boy for doing the charitable thing when it was so hard. I hope he is extremely proud of himself for being kind to an adult in a fix.

 

It sounds like Connor is very brave and kindhearted to do what was more scary and painful for him to help out the TDMP. The situation sucks, but what he did was very kind.

 

I wish she had just done her blood draws on her own since it was her mistake. The hard part for me was that she called to ask me if I'd be willing to take Connor to get his blood drawn. That's when our family got involved and had to make a decision. I could have said "no", but I didn't want to damage the relationship with the school and TDMP (new school). I felt bad for the woman because it was an accident. Connor is like your daughter. She always thinks of other people and himself last. We involved him in the decision making because I wanted him to have a chance to say "no". I knew he wouldn't say "no" though. I really thought the woman would have a change of heart as she sat eye to eye with him at the table and asked him to get a blood test so she wouldn't have to go. I could never do that to a child. Connor was visibly upset about the mention of a blood draw. He still said "yes", but he cried the whole way to the hospital. It broke my heart. Almost as much as his initial diagnosis. Would I have made the same decision again to get his blood tested? I don't know. I do know that we were trying to do the right thing and act with compassion and kindness.

I wish I had known if anyone else had gone through this before. I was too upset to post on the day this actually happened last week.

 

I really consider him my hero. I think his heart is bigger than many adult hearts.

 

I think so too. The situation definitely sucked. He wasn't in pain because of the EMLA cream (lucky I had some of that from TrialNet).

 

We've had two incidents. A staff member accidentally poked herself with used a lancet. I know she had testing done. Another time another student got a hold of an unused syringe that was in Lia's medical bag (long story). I know the parent had testing done. At no time did they ask us to take Lia anywhere to get tested.

ETA-they never said anything to me about six blood draws. If that's the case and they did that, well now I feel bad. I would rather take Lia in. She hates blood draws but gets over it pretty quickly. At this age for her, I wouldn't hesitate at all. When she was younger I would have been pretty upset that she had to go through that but would still have done it anyway.

 

It hasn't happened to us, but I had a friend who got an accidental needle stick in med school.

I am sorry that this happened to you.

This has crossed my mind about what I'd do if this happened to us.

And given the situation, I would have L do the single blood draw vs. having someone else do six draws.

I would definitely work with a TDMP--it's great that people volunteer at all--at our previous school there was no one who volunteered to help. At the risk of having people refuse, because they fear having to deal with needles and more responsibilites, I'd try to be as understanding as possible.

Accidents can happen, and I feel that alleviating fear is best. I would be thinking of all the fear that can happen in the next year with 6 blood draws, and all the office talk, and other people interjecting their fears about being a TDMP.

 

Do you think as part of the volunteer's training that they are told about the six blood draws if they mistakenly poke themselves?

 

Because it was also a big deal for the staff member, who is a volunteer, to have to go back for 6 more blood draws (she had already had one done) and wait over a year to find out if she caught any blood borne diseases from my son. I told her that he does not have anything, but I can understand her worry. I had to take her feelings into consideration to make the right decision. She is a person, and I care about everyone. Connor does too - adults and children. I was going to just take Connor to the hospital after school to get his blood tested without telling him why (just routine), but I decided that if the woman at school made the mistake and wanted to involve Connor - she could explain it to him with the understanding that he has an "out". We presented both choices, and he chose to go get his blood tested.

Could I have just left him out of the process and refused? Yes. But do I think that was the right thing to do? No. If it was a nurse, I would have refused. But this was a volunteer. I want staff to continue to volunteer to be trained in diabetes care tasks at school. Right now, three 4th grade teachers, the Principal, and several other staff members are trained. I want to continue to have people willing to help, knowing that I'll be 100% supportive of their efforts. I didn't want to damage our relationship.

Connor is resilient. He is brave. He is kind. He gets over things quickly. He is proud now that he made such a selfless decision. I think it was the right choice for our family. I know this was the school's one free pass on this issue. I'll never consent again.

 

I haven't, but I imagine it could easily happen. I would take DD in for the blood draw, no question. One blood draw (that I would use as her yearly testing ) and it would be done. To ask someone to spend a year worrying about disease and transmission when a blood draw would solve it? No way. I'm sure it's not "fair" to get a blood draw but sometimes life isn't fair and this is something that certainly seems more unfair to the nurse.

Besides, it happens. DH and I have both done this and we are careful people. Finger slips, get interupted as cap is being replaced, accidentally triggering a pokey...things happen. I don't see it as the nurse/volunteer's "fault" as it's just an accident.