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Replacing inner needle cap

S

Smiffy1967

Member
Messages
12
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Just got back from a meeting with my DSN where I was issued with a new Novo Echo pen & whilst flicking through the instructions it states that you are not to replace the inner cap as a risk of needle injuries!!

I must admit I always replace the inner cap and the outer cap before disposal into a sharps bin and always have done. Intact when I'm out I wouldn't even dream of placing a used needle back into the little pocket without both the inner and outer caps on.

Made me wonder if I'm being a bit paranoid or OTT but I always feel safer doing it and in 16 years I have never stabbed myself with the used needle!

Just curious to know what the rest of you do
 
Hi Smiffy1967, I would never consider trying to put the fiddly little inside cap back on. With my eyesight and arthritis, I would stab myself on a regular basis.
 
I was told to not replace the needle cap the first time I tried under the watchful eyes of the ICU nurses.

I suppose that it's doable safely - you can stand up the inner needle cap on a flat surface and push down towards the table.
 
I always replace the inner cap but I know that you should never resheath a needle. You can get a needle clipping device on prescription from your GP that you clip the needle off, it's really clever but yet another thing to carry around so admittedly I don't use mine.
 

I can't see the point (no pun :wink: ) of a sharps clipper. The exposed rear end of the pen needle is just as sharp as the body-skin end so no advantage gained.
 
Out of habit I always replace the inner cap.
 
The advantage is that when you clip the needle, the exposed part of the needle that has been in your skin is now cut away and so there is no danger of you (or more importantly anybody else) getting a needle stick injury.
 
I dont bother replacing the inner cap as I always loose them. There is more than likely a big stash of them under my desk if I took the time to look.
I mainly use the outer cap to remove or just unscrew it without the outer cap if the sharps bin is next to me
 
I've been using a preloaded pen and screw on needles for a little under 20 years and I've ALWAYS replaced the inner needle cap.... it wasn't until I recently started on Victoza and read the instructions with that injection that I realised the advice is to not replace the inner cap.... I had no idea.

I suppose it is safer not to replace it, in terms of not jabbing yourself in the finger --- I've done it a few times and I did once manage to jab the needle underneath my fingernail... BIG OUCH!! :***:
 
At a recent course for T1s at our clinic we were told to replace the needle after every injection and were shown pictures of the increasing degradation of the needle point after each injection.
 
Ambersilva said:
At a recent course for T1s at our clinic we were told to replace the needle after every injection and were shown pictures of the increasing degradation of the needle point after each injection.
Click to expand...


I think you misunderstood a little - this thread is talking about putting the little inner needle cap back on the needle once you've used it to inject, not re-using the needle for more than one injection.

I definitely wouldn't recommend re-using needles for more than one injection!
 


I have not misunderstood anything.
 
erm, ok, if you say so.... but this thread isn't about using needles more than once. It's about replacing the needle cap before you dispose of the needle.
 
The needle clipper is brilliant in that it clips off and also stores the needles inside itself - I think it will hold about 500 of the thingies. They're 'gone' then. It doesn't drop them on the table again.

However, I never use it, I cap it with the outer cap, the inner one goes in the bin. Occasionally when I am out, I will drop the inner cap into the outer before I use the outer one to unscrew the needle itself - mostly because of all the litter I will otherwise have in my pocket in 'small change'.

-M
 
If it is going in a sharps bin you don't need to replace either of the caps!
 
I always replace the inner needle cap before throwing them away and have rarely had an accident. But I have had a lot of practice because I used to reuse my needles years ago before changing to single use.
 
If I stab a needle into anyone else, then it goes straight into sharps bin (carried in a kidney dish, if not right beside patient) as I don't want to risk getting anyone else's blood / fluids into myself.

If I stab a needle into myself on purpose first, I'm happy to risk a needle stick injury by resheathing and reusing needle numerous times. I clip needles before discarding into 35mm film cannister until I can take sharps to a sharps bin.

But very rare to stab myself accidently, unless in a bumpy vehicle or in the dark, for example.
 
I think the advice, in order to avoid needle stick injuries (if I remember the term correctly), is to not replace the inner cap on the needle. Dispose of the needle after use and do not reuse needles. Personally, I'm still sufficiently dexterous that I tend to put the inner cap back on the needle before putting into the sharps bin.
I realize that others may reuse, but - having gone through the advice during the 1980s and 1990s of, "there's no problem, just reuse the needle until it feels blunt," and the effects on my injection sites, I'm glad that medical advice has now caught up with common sense and a single use needle is just that - single use.
 
I have only been doing this for a year now since my diagnosis, but I only ever replace the outer cap, I find this necessary so I can unscrew the needle from the pen without stabbing myself.
The inner one is too fiddly and there is really no benefit in replacing it. I do tend to have a buildup of small caps in my carrier bag though.

I think not replacing the inner cap is actually a good thing, sometimes i open the lid on a needle by mistake and don't use it straight away, so if I see this needle later I can tell that it's still new because it has the small cap in there, if this makes any sense?
 
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