Question

You have received a needlestick injury after giving a client an intramuscular injection, but you have no information about the client's HIV status. What is the most appropriate method of obtaining this information about the client?
a) You should personally ask the client to authorize HIV testing as soon as possible.
b) The charge nurse should tell the client about the need for HIV testing.
c) The occupational health nurse should discuss HIV status with the client.
d) HIV testing should be performed the next time blood is drawn for other tests.

Answer 1

Answer:

c) The occupational health nurse should discuss HIV status with the client.

Explanation:

If you are a nurse you should be very careful when administering vaccines to a patient. Besides taking proper care in the administration of the vaccine, the nurse must be careful not to receive a needle injury to the patient, because some diseases are caused by contact with fluids of the infected human body, one of these diseases is AIDS, caused by HIV virus.

In the case exposed in the question, the professional should act calmly and contact the occupational health nurse so that this nurse contacts the patient to discuss the HIV status with the patient. The educational health professional is responsible for this. The attending nurse should not perform an HIV test without the patient's authorization, should not personally ask the patient to take an HIV test, nor can they inform the patient about the need for this test because these practices are considered unethical within of the profession.