OT - question for nurses here

For all the nurses here, I have a question.  If a patient goes to the ER with lacerations on the forearms and the ER doc decides to staple them closed (as opposed to suturing them), shouldn't the doc inject something like Lidocaine prior to putting in the staples?  Is there any reason why Lidocain would be contraindicated?  Is there any reason the staples should be done with nothing at all given for pain first?

Thanks for your help.

So glad you are back. You were missed. I am an OT specializing in hand injuries and they always give lidocaine and if they are a kid, they may even buffer it so the shot to numb doesn't hurt.  After cleaning well,money suture and may staple after a surgery. This is unusual.  Allison

*this by no means is referring to all ED staff.  This is just my experience*

Were the wounds self inflicted?

  Psych nurse here. I have no idea whom you are speaking of, but bells go off when I here things like laceration to forearm.  I have seen a lot of discrimination everywhere against those with mental illness and that includes ED staff.  I also live with mental illness and have had to deal with the stigma first hand as a patient.  When I had an overdose years ago, the nurse shoved the BIG AS HELL NG tube up my nose so hard causing a huge bleed, not to mention the pain. 

Just my experience and if the wounds were not self inflicted, never mind  anything I just wrote.

Interesting you should ask that.  Yes, they were self-inflicted.  Which I suspect is the reason I was not given anything for pain.

I hope you are feeling better.

Actually, I am feeling quite traumatized by my whole hospital experience.  I am having more trouble sleeping than usual, more anxiety than usual, not feeing safe (I realize that's not a real rational feeling), and I think one of the cuts may be infected and I am terrified at the thought of seeking medical treatment for it.

The wound really needs to be looked at.  Hospitals=MRSA.  I apologize on behalf of the medical community for your treatment.  I hope that you feel better soon.  There is a lot of people here that care about you.  You help a lot of people.  I had the DS so I do not post much in this forum but I like reading your posts.

I am considering trying to get in to see my PCP about the wound.  I did show the nurse before leaving the hospital yesterday and she said it did not look infected to her.  I thought it looked kind of bad then but when I woke up this morning and looked at it, I was kind of freaked out by it.  It looks worse today.  The others all look good.  I might be willing to see my PCP if I can get in with her (sometimes it takes a long time to get in with her) but there is just no way I am going back to the ER.  Not the ER I was treated at last week and not any other ER.  Seriously, at this point I would rather die at home than go to the ER for treatment, especially of these injuries.

I really appreciate your apology.  Obviously it wasn't your fault that it happened.  But you know, of the many people at the hospital that I've complained to thus far, no one has apologized.  Some of the nurses looked sympathetic, but not sympathetic enough to try to do anything about it, apparently.  But no one even bothered to apologize.

i know how you feel. i have a rare disease where i have to go in sometimes to get things taken care of. i went in and they didnt num me and it was a huge abscess with cellulitis (so extra painful) and she just started cutting squeezing and everything i was bawling and she was a mean nurse. she would NOT listen....(mine wasn't self inflicted though i cant control the disease)

I don't have anything to add for the original question, but I'm so sorry for your pain and your hospital experience. Self-injury was a part of my life for years. I guess it often goes along with PTSD, anxiety, depression, etc. Take care of yourself first and foremost and feel better soon.