To think this was unhygienic!?

[Finelinebetweenchaos]

Just took DD for her routine immunisations. I find it rather traumatic due to previous stressful vaccination-related issues including a needle stick injury (nurse stabbed herself and then continued to inject my DD with the same syringe!).

Anyway, at a new Drs, much better - the nurse seemed very professional etc but when she did the jabs today she did the injection and then pressed the wound with her bare finger while reaching for another syringe (DD had to have 4!!).

I feel that she should have used sterile gauze or at least been wearing gloves if she was actually going to touch the injection site! I assume she washed her hands before we came into the room but she was touching the computer and the tray with the syringes on it before she did the injection.

It's really bothering me. I didn't say anything at the time cos it was all so quick and DD was screaming. I usually also ask medical professionals to wash their hands but again i was nervous and didn't think she would actually touch the wound.

AIBU? Has my past history made me oversensitive? Or is this a basic medical hygiene failure and if so should I say something?

Thanks MN!

You know when someone does something and you're so shocked you just don't react? When DS was 2 he was really ill and in hospital with an abscess under his chin. He had to have an op to have it drained and the surgical wound had to be packed and allowed to heal from the inside. All hugely traumatic for a 2 year old who had to be held down while the packing was removed, new packing inserted and the wound dressed. He had to have this done quite a few times over a few weeks.

On one occasion the 'surgical wound specialist' did the dressing. She packed the wound, took the backing of the plaster/dressing thing, put her bare thumb on the bit that was going on the open wound and then stuck it on.

He's 18 now and I'm still cross with myself for not saying something.

Keep an eye on the place and make sure it doesn't start going hard and hot (sure you are doing this anyway).

Thank you for all your replies!! And glad to hear I'm not a crazy person for being upset about this!

This is not the same surgery as the needle stick injury - that was with an agency nurse at another Drs. It was awful - she denied it but then her finger was bleeding... I made a series of formal complaints (it was the last straw in a catalogue of errors we had experienced there) and I believe she actually lost her job over it. Because she lied about it!

Anyway, back to today's drama. I called the practice manager and said I didn't want to make a fuss but wanted to make him aware of this and he is going to speak to the nurse supervisor but without mentioning my name or anything. He is going to ask them to go back through hygiene procedures.

I normally do ask medical professionals to handwash but I didn't imagine she would touch the injection site!

I feel a bit better for saying something. Maybe I should have been more forceful but at least they know!

DD's poor legs are really sore - not helped by the fact the plaster was stuck on so the sticky part was on the injection site! The sore bits do go red and hard after jabs anyway, especially men B, but I will be keeping a extra close eye on her. I get so anxious about all of this stuff and so worried about something happening to my baby this is really not helping!!!

stone that's awful! I would have been furious!

This is very, very bad. If the nurse is exposing herself to patients blood, she is putting herself at a huge risk for contracting a blood borne disease. I work with human blood and ANY contact without gloves and adequate protection is a big no no.

In this case, the nurse is at more risk than your DD as she's the one touching someone else's blood. In the previous case with the needle stick injury, that person should never be allowed to practice medicine again. I hope you had your DD tested for blood borne diseases after wards.

You know gloves aren't even clean,
Let alone sterile. Just to make sure people understand that gloves aren't the be all and end all of infection prevention.

The chance of an immunised nurse with no abrasions on her skin catching something from a child are vanishingly small.

But. Germs and stuff. So wear your gloves HCPs! even if they're not as clean as your hands

I'm fine with no gloves (provided proper hand hygiene has been observed), but they should use cotton wool to press against the injection site - sometimes they even put the plaster over the cotton wool too

Agree with the last few posts. It shouldn't have happened but gloves, unless they are very specifically sterile ones that are unpacked and put on in a very specific way, are not at all sterile and are intended for the protection of the person wearing them, not the patient. It's something that bugs me in food hygiene as well - clean hands are a lot cleaner than gloves pulled from the box on the wall, which are often handled by the person putting them on as well. Gloves, much like alcohol handrubs, give a veneer of cleanliness and reassurance when the reality is actually different and proper hand washing is far superior.

But yes if she felt the need to touch the injection site, she should indeed have used a clean single-use gauze or other barrier.

They don't have to wear gloves, that is Compulsory however hands washed must be Before and after blood is taken.
Some choose to wear gloves and some don't apparently some find easier to feel for the vein without wearing gloves.

That should have said gloves are NOT complulsory.