2 0 S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O C T O B E R 2 0 1 6
For Karen Daley, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN, it came down to one regrettable second in
1998. One second for her
career to be derailed and
her life to be permanently
altered. One second for a
needlestick that she never
saw coming. "I can recall
exactly when that needle
pricked my finger, and the moments around it," she says. "I had just finished
drawing blood on a patient. I went to discard the needle and was stuck with a sec-
ond needle that was protruding from the sharps box. I knew it was a deep punc-
ture, because blood came to the outside of my glove."
What she didn't know — and wouldn't know for several months — was that
she'd just been infected with both HIV and hepatitis C. The remarkable odyssey
that's followed is an interwoven tale of tragedy and redemption. Sentenced to a
lifetime of physical challenges, Ms. Daley has continued to push forward, first
earning her PhD, and eventually becoming president of the American Nurses
Association, all the while waging a very public campaign to try to prevent others
from suffering the same fate.
"In order to survive mentally and physically, I had to focus on what I could do in
terms of putting a face of this preventable kind of injury and illness," she says. "I
had to use what happened to me to prevent it from happening to other people.
Once I physically felt well enough, that became the focus of my life — to have the
injury mean something beyond my personal consequences."
The first year was especially rough. "At the time people were dying of [HIV] —
they weren't really sure how to manage both HIV and hep C. It was tough, tough
DEEP PUNCTURE
Nurse Contracts HIV and Hepatitis C From Needlestick
"I had just finished drawing blood on a
patient. I went to discard the needle
and was stuck with a second nee-
dle that was protruding from the
sharps box. I knew it was a deep
puncture, because blood came to
the outside of my glove."
— Karen Daley, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN
