Hi guys... I just have one question that I need your opinion,I'm a student nurse and it was my first time encountering a patient with AIDS.One time I gave him an insulin shot, but I used gloves and it didn't poke me or freak me nor I touch the needle, I just want to know if I'm going to be infected,I know its not appropriate for a nursing student to ask the question but I just want to have other opinion,just to have a peace of mind.My friends telling me that I'm paranoid,because I'm telling them that I'm scared.Please anyone answer my question.. thank you.:confused:

If his blood didn't mix into your blood, there's no way you got AIDS.

You're a nursing student, so you should know for a fact that unless your blood mixed with his, chances of you getting HIV from him are virtually non-existent. I'm more worried that you're working in a medical field and are not educated about this.

Also, working in the medical field, chances are, you will get stuck with an infected needle at least once (I'm a lucky two-striker). Even with being stuck, it's pretty rare that one becomes infected with a needle-stick.

No offense, but please, study harder.

I can not personally believe you are a medical (nursing student) this is one of the basic things you learn. Aids is only transmitted by body fluid exchange, so you can not get it by touching them ( even without gloves) or by shaking their hand, or by being near them.

While Aids is seroius, there are 1000's of things easier to catch that you will be in contact with on a daily basis normally

It may be time to consider if you are cut out for nursing or not. You see, you run into higher risks when a patient is on droplet precautions, etc. When you have to completely gown up just to go into a room to do an assessment.

You gave him a shot using standard precautions and nothing was violated. What will you worry about when you have a patient that has MRSA and you need to gown and glove, or the patient that has something more serious that you can catch via the air? You didn't even get a needle stick.

Prior to graduation I took care of patients with C. diff. Hep C. pneumonia, etc. Was I worried about getting it? No. Why? Because I took the proper precautions. I was more worried about if my family would get it, so I took precautions once I got home. I take my shoes off outside, I go to the laundry room and change clothes and wash my scrubs immediately upon coming home from work.

You really need to relearn the risks of contracting HIV/AIDS while using standard precautions before deciding if this is the right path for you.

Yes, working in the Prison, I did a lot of the special units, we had units that every inmate was a AIDS patient, others with TB, HEP and more.
There the fear was more the inmates biting us or something else even.

If you have extreme fear of the patients you really may want to consider another line of work, and if your school is not teaching you proper safety, that is another issue.