This should have never happened

I was looking forward to my Pedo Rotation the other because I knew that I was not going to run over and most of my classmates said there was normally nothing to do, so I should get out early.

This was a good thing because I had a nutrition test after lunch and I was hoping to use the extra time to review for it... There was my first mistake, I should have never thought I would have extra time. In hygiene school, there is no such thing as extra time. lol! jk

Well, My first patient was a teenage girl and I figured out really quickly that thing were done completely differently in Pedo, than in out hygiene clinic. (made me miss all our rules) In Pedo they told me that we do not give a head and neck exam, that the doctor would do it when he comes over. (but that wasn't the case, he didn't do one) Also, in that clinic they make you prophy before you scale...all these differences just threw me off my hygiene game. :p

But the thing that made no sense to me the most was the fact that I was given a patient that was an adult...in pedo....makes no sense. Plus I found out that the patient was an illegal immigrant getting free dental care...weird :/

So, before I started cleaning the patient they went over his/her medical history. I could not understand anything they were saying because the patient only spoke very little english...Once they were done reviewing the patient's history, I began cleaning. The patient had moderate to heavy generalized calculus, so I decided to use the Cavitron. But the way the unit was set up in Pedo, it was completely different than out hygiene clinic. (plus it was totally for right handed people) The Cavitron instead of being delivered over top the patient, it was a side delivery system...for right handed people! So this was just another thing to add to my list of things that disoriented me....

Once I was done with cleaning the patient, I gave him/her a final rinse because they were experiencing a lot of bleeding while scaling. After I finished rinsing, I reached around to put back the air/water syringe and saliva ejector and that is when it happened. The dang Cavitron tip when through my glove into my hand and caused it to bleed. (if only it did not draw blood, then I could have studied for my nutrition test :P) I sat the patient up and then washed the area immediately and then squirted hand sanitizer on it just to make myself feel better. Then I asked one of the assistants what to do....

They made me fill out an incident report and made the patient stay because we both would need to get blood drawn that day. After I filled out the forms, me and my patient was escorted to oral surgery where all the real "fun" began.

In oral surgery, I was required to call student health and talk to the RN there about the exposure. Once discussing what exactly happen, she gave me some questions to ask my patient (you know, embarrassing ones). Some of the questions were:
-How many sexual partners have you been with?
-Do you have AIDS or Hep C?
-Do you sleep around?
-Have you had any blood transfusions?
-Any tattoos?
-Do you do drugs? Share needles?

So once I had my list of "fun" questions, I had to ask my patient. Oo, but wait! The patient does not speak english! Lol! So now I have to run around searching for someone that spoke Spanish, so she would understand what I was saying. (fun stuff) Lucky for me one of the assistants in Pedo spoke Spanish and was willing to come to oral surgery and help my out. She asked her all the questions, then I had to call back the nurse and relay the answers to her. The RN required me to come to student health to get my blood drawn, but first (lol) I had to deliver the patient's blood to the hospital for testing...

The lady in oral surgery gave me directions to get to the two location where the patient's blood needed to be dropped off. (May I say they were the worst directions ever!) I must have gotten lost 3 or 4 times before some kind nurse came to my rescue! She lead me in the right directions and I was able to deliver the blood to the correct places...Now I just had to find my way out of the hospital (may I say I have a REALLY poor sense of direction). So I got lost a couple more times before a very nice man showed me the way out. :)

Now I was on my way to student health to get my blood drawn. (thank goodness) Getting my blood drawn was probably the quickest part of this whole ordeal, well except for getting stuck. lol! So while waiting for my blood to be taken, the lab called with the HIV/AIDS blood test. NEGATIVE! Woohoo! After that my blood was drawn and I was free to go and beg the faculty to let me reschedule my test (just kidding) They let me reschedule, no problem. :P

But I did want to share this event with everyone because this could happen to anyone of us. So it is important to try and remain calm, washing the site as soon as possible, and do NOT let the patient leave before you get their blood! Because I made the mistake before of allowing the patient to leave and that was scarey! Getting tested every so often to see if anything had popped up. :/

I just hope my "wonderful" experience allows everyone to learn and helps everyone protect themselves... :)