Any medical people about? Is this a concern?

[Cherryhotchoc]

If a nurse was using the keyboard and mouse and going in and out do the room, touching door handles etc and then took someone’s blood without wearing gloves or washing their hands, is this a concern?

They were feeling the person’s arm for a vein and then putting a needle in. Is there potential for any bacteria from their unwashed hand to be transferred to their skin and then pushed into a person’s blood stream via the vein? Could this make them unwell? The person who had the blood test is vulnerable and I’m concerned.

Is this something you observed? Did you say something at the time?

That’s definitely not proper aseptic technique.

Strange practice but if the needle didn’t come into contact with her hands then I wouldn’t worry.

Didn’t feel able to say anything at the time, it all happed quite quickly and the nurse was quite fierce.

Although the needle didn’t come into direct contact with her hand, it went through the skin she had just poked and prodded with unwashed hands.

There's no need to wear gloves during this task, but I'd expect the nurse to wash / gel her hands after using the computer. Are you sure she didn't do this?

100 percent sure, she didn’t go anywhere near any gel or the tap.

Didn't she swab the skin before inserting the needle?

Short answer: “yes”

Longer answer: “yes, of course”

No she didn’t swab the skin.

Did she have a cleaning wipe to clean the skin with?

Did she disinfect the skin? She should have done that and then let the skin dry. Once disinfected it should not be touched again.

Nurse here but not in uk. Surely the practise would be same though.

This is really odd. I always wash my hands before and after taking blood and wear gloves. And that was before COVID WtF are you in the UK ?

No swab or disinfection at all. Yes this was in the UK.

I think it's normal for them not to swab the skin but usually they have gloves on and would expect them not to be touching all sorts beforehand

Couldn’t get worked up about this

Can anyone offer reassurance that the chance of bacteria from her hands going onto the skin and then intro he body via the needle? It’s done now so need to try and mitigate risk.

The chance is low*

No need to swab the skin if it's clean. That's been the guidance for many years. UK.

The risk is low. But she absolutely should have washed her hands and put gloves on before taking blood.

Yes no need to swab skin, wash skin if visibly dirty. However five moments of hand hygiene definitely state the nurse should have washed hands. Chance of bacterial infection is minimal, but keep an eye looking for redness/heat/swelling

Thank you YougoFargo. If bacterial entered the vein via the skin as the needle went in, would an infection still be local (I was thinking the bacteria could have been pushed into the bloodstream and end up being systemic rather than localized).

I think a lot of systemic reactions are borne of untreated/unknown local infections in my experience, hence keep an eye. If it’s not reacted by now, then chances are it won’t at all

That is quite shocking.
General advice is to wash your hans and use alcohol gel after every contact with people/items and before any procedure.Gloves should be used and swabbing the skin before putting the needle in is also a must.
I am speechless,especially now when we are in the middle of pandemic.
I would highlight it with management,especially as it made you really anxious.

Swabbing the skin is not a must and hasn't been for many years (as long as it's clean).

Gloves are not standard for this in every trust. Lots of people gage been horrified at pictures of people being vaccinated by someone not wearing gloves, but it's not unusual at all.

You sound very anxious about this op. You are incredibly unlikely to get an infection.