Air date: January 17, 2010

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By all accounts, medical school is a slog. Really long hours, a lotta grunt work. Tons of pressure to perform on no sleep.

But what I was really surprised to learn is that one of the worst things about medical training is getting stuck by needles. Evidently, medical and nursing students get jabbed all the time.

According to a recent study, something like 800,000 needlestick injuries are reported every year. And that's probably just the tip of the iceberg, because a lot of these incidents go unreported.

To find out why, I went to my go-to guy, my buddy Steve Mendelson, who's an orthopedic surgeon in Detroit.

"There's still a culture in medicine of 'don't stop this train, this train has to move forward.' If you get stuck or hurt yourself, we don't want to hear about it because it delays where this train is going, and that's the culture of the medical community."

Steve told me that, actually, med students get stuck a lot less now than they used to. Hospitals now have specialists whose job it is to draw blood, instead of sticking clumsy students with the job -- no pun intended.

But getting stuck by used needles still happens a lot. And not reporting it can lead to serious problems.

"I know several physicians who at some point in their lives became aware that they were hepititis C or B positive, and they don't remember the specific needlestick, but, because they didn't go through the process of filing a report they don't really have anyone who really ultimately has to bear that responsibility except themselves and their insurance carriers."

So Steve's advice to any medical students who may be listening: if you get stuck by a needle, get off the train. Report the injury and take whatever precautions necessary to prevent infection. Otherwise, somewhere down the line, you may be in for a nasty surprise.

I'm Jeremy Shere.

Additional Resources:

• Recent research says medical student needlesticks are often under-reported.
• And still more on medical student needlesticks from the LA Times.

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