If you are a caregiver for someone who is suffering from AIDS or any other disease, it is essential that you learn the safety of using all syringes and needles. Most AIDS patients use a syringe and needle to take their medication on a daily basis. In addition to AIDS patients, diabetics and people with hemophilia also have to administer medicine with syringes. You don’t want someone to prick themselves with a needle or a syringe that is contaminated. This is one way that people can be infected with the HIV virus.
Safety Tips
There are several safety tips to take into consideration when using these syringes and needles:
- Use them only once
- Never return caps to the needle
- Leave needle on syringes
- Do not bend or break needle
- Use a tweezers and not your fingers to replace the needle if it falls off the syringe
If you have to touch the needle or syringe, do so by its barrel, holding the sharper end away from you. Once used, they should be placed in a special, puncture-proof container or one with a plastic top. Container should be kept in a room with other needles and syringes and out of the reach of all small children.
Never panic, if you are stuck while using a needle. Instead, seek medical care right away. Wash the punctured area thoroughly and put the needle away in the used sharps container.
Hypodermic needle
This type of needle is the most commonly used in conjunction with a syringe for injecting and extracting fluids from the body. Doctors and nurses use it in hospitals and medical offices to take fluid from the body, such as blood samples. If someone is unable to ingest a substance through the mouth, it is administered using a hypodermic needle.
The hypodermic needle and syringe plays a significant part in research when sterile conditions are necessary. This is to reduce the risk of contamination during an inoculation. Contamination is reduced for two reasons: for the prevention of aerial pathogens to keep them from being trapped on the surface of the needle, which would transfer to the injected person and the sharpness of the needle’s surface diminishes its diameter, which prevents large microbes from contaminating the injected person. Sharp syringes and needles cause less discomfort to the person being injected.
Sizing
Needles and syringes come in various sizes but are measured by gauge, which usually ranges between 25 and 16. The higher gauge has a smaller diameter and makes a smaller puncture wound when administered. The size of the gauge depends on the liquid’s thickness. An 18 gauge needle is generally used to inject most liquids to reduce the amount of pain the patient experiences. Syringes come in Luer-lock forms and styles where you can twist the needle into place and lock it. The size starts from 1 cc and ranges up to 60 cc.
If you are looking for the right syringes and needles for your medical care or that of a loved one, contact us for a full listing of available products.