Very anxious - doctor touched needle before vaccination?

[Spotto]

Just took my daughter for a chickenpox vaccination.

As the doctor was prepping the needle, he touched the bottom of the needle (not the sharp end) - the actual metal sharp bit, not just the bottle bit of that makes sense.

Then he injected my daughter, and the whole needle went all the way in including the part he touched.

I don't know the first thing about medical stuff, but I'm just really worried and panicking now that she may get some sort of infection from this - what about blood borne illnesses etc?!

Is anyone who knows about correct injection procedure able to help ease my fears? Or should I be worried?

That shouldn’t have happened. I doubt anything will come of it but I’m sorry you have this anxiety to cope with now. Medics don’t seem to think sometimes.

At my DDs newborn check my GP washed her hands then put her finger in my baby’s mouth ungloved. At another appointment a GP touched their own lips with gloves on then touched my DD’s lips. Each time I was angry at myself for not stopping them fast enough, but it happened so quickly.

You're both of you worrying over nothing.

He would need to have had an open wound on his fingertip to transmit a blood disease

Are you sure the whole of the needle went in? Usually it is only the tip as they wouldn't shove inches of needle all the way in just to administer a vaccination.

I do think you're worrying about nothing as another poster has said.

He definitely put the whole needle in @Geiyotue , because when he touched it I thought to myself "I suppose the whole thing won't go in anyway" but then I watched and it definitely did go all the way in

He didn't wash his hands and left the room and came back (so touched door knobs etc) and typed on his computer before doing the jab, which is part of the worry

But I am pleased to be told I'm being daft - thank you everyone! Will try not to worry (easier said than done with me unfortunately)

Did he not wear gloves? Or wash his hands right beforehand?

I think the risk of infection is very low but I would write to the practice and complain about standards of practice.

Are you in the uk or abroad? Very unusual for dr’s to be involved in jabs in the uk?

No gloves @TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams

And yes I'm in the U.K., it was a doctor @dantewest - you have to go private for a chicken pox jab, so I went to a private GP clinic

She's supposed to have her next dose in a month's time, now I'm thinking I don't really want to go back to the same place

And no he definitely didn't wash his hands - unless he did when he left the room briefly

I would go back or getting the medical records updated for the nhs is only going to get unnecessarily complicated. But I would be much more assertive about your expectations.

@Spotto somewhat awkward to feedback to a private gp but doesn’t sound as though they followed good aseptic technique. It’s very very unlikely to cause her any problems but hand washing is such a basic element of healthcare I would be worried about their standards. ( that said ,years ago when mrsa was a big thing on the wards and in the news it was often the medics who weren’t following infection control protocols properly !)

She's only any risk at all if his hands weren't clean. He almost certainly washes or sanitises his hands before each patient comes into the room.

If he didn't do this, and had germs on his hands then yes there was a risk. Same level of risk as if she falls over and grazes her knee. How much do you panic about germs when that happens?

Thanks everyone

Yes, you're right @OpizpuHeuvHiyo - I think I am feeling more calm about the germs/bacteria side of things.

I can't deny that I am still worried she could have picked up something awful like HIV - but I know that is a little bit very insane...

I do suffer from OCD and things like this are one of my specific issues. I just keep thinking to myself "what if he had open cuts on his fingers that I couldn't see" and blah blah blah. Anyone who has ocd will be able to imagine I'm sure.

Anyway, thanks everyone. I will try and put it out my mind now

You don't just "pick up HIV" from potentially unwashed hands though. Realistically you know this already.

Dr. Not ideal practice. I'd complain.

I often wash my hands before see the pt (theatres) so just realised pts may think I don't, despite washing multiple times

Won't get blood borne viruses, we are screened for them on job applications, if had hiv wouldneed to be undetectably controlled for doing proceedures. Ignoring the above he would have had to have had a bleeding wound dripping and it still would be incredibly rare.

I've got hiv/hepatitis pt blood in my eye before still didn't catch it

Our son's doctor vaccinated him without gloves a couple of times. She had long, gel nails so you can imagine it wasn't hygienic at all. Nothing ever happened so I think you can be calmed.

National guidance for flu/covid jabs is you don't use gloves (I run the campaign for multiple trusts over the years), so no reason why wouldn't apply to others provided wash hands before you do it

Gloves do not necessarily equal clean hands! Effective hand washing ( not just slapping some alcohol gel on ) is the most hygienic for many tasks in health. But the gel nails I totally agree, we were never allowed long nails at work and it’s really difficult to keep long nails clean ( and also liable to poke a patient or put a nail through your gloves!)

Nurse and mum here- He shouldn’t have done that but I highly doubt anything bad would happen. It would be worse if your child fell at kindy and scratched themselves then another child touched it (the other child would most likely have dirtier hands than the doctor). Don’t worry. It’s not a big deal at all ❤️