Worried about blood test and germs

[sarah00001]

Hi, I had a blood test today with a nurse at my local GP surgery and I'm worried that it wasn't done very hygienically. Firstly the nurse got the syringe, took the cap off and then lay the syringe on the desk while she went to get something. Then, there was a sort of a squeazy tube that you attach to the syringe which collects the blood (I'm not sure of the name) and before she started to draw blood, she dropped it on the floor, picked it up and didn't change it for a clean one.

I'm worried now in case some germs will have got into my blood. Am I worrying necessarily?

Thanks, Sarah

no germs will have gotten into your blood as long as the needle itself was clean. Don't worry

Seems a bit odd that she would drop something on the floor and then not replace it with a fresh one. However it would only be the plastic that would have touched the floor and not actually where the syringe goes in.

As PenguinPoser said as long as the needle is clean it's very unlikely that you would develop some sort of infection. You've probably got more chance of picking up an infection from cutting your hand on something or tripping over than actually from a blood test, and then even that's very unlikely :)

Thank you for your replies. I'm a bit upset about it to be honest, especially as the floor looked really dirty. Hopefully as you say as long as the needle was clean, it should be ok, but when the part fell on the floor, she should have got a fresh one. I think I'll ask go to phlebotomy at my hospital for future blood tests as I never feel they're done very hygienically at my gp surgery.

She should have changed the tube part, but the business end is the needle, and even if you balance that on a desk the actual needle part remains in mid air. It's common to balance the syringe on a surface (I've never done this on humans but I'm quite anal and I'd usually keep everything on a tray with clean tissue in it....)

You should be absolutely fine. :) don't worry.

Thanks Skiptonlass, I wish I had someone like you to take my blood! My sister's a nurse and she said she's extremely meticulous with hygiene when she takes blood. They just seem really lax at my surgery.

Was it still in the packet? If not she should have changed it. I'm a nurse btw.

No, unfortunately it wasn't in the packet. What do you think I should do?

Thanks.

You don't need to do anything :) you will be just fine. Clearly this nurse wasn't a shining example of aseptic technique, but you shouldn't have any ill effects from it.

It's often easier and quicker to go to phlebotomy anyway - I don't bleed easily and I find that the folks who do it day in day out are so much more efficient at it. The lady at my centre who does it was clearly a vampire in a previous life ;) she hits a vein first time.
The last midwife who tried to get blood out of me it took her half an hour of digging and six different places (mainly my fault, I clearly have crap veins...good job I'm not bothered by needles!)

You don't need to do anything now, you'll be fine - but you could have queried it with the nurse at the time, and asked for clean equipment. You did choose to let her go ahead!

I wish I had queried it.

The bit that dropped on the floor doesn't go anywhere near you or your blood stream. How would you possible get an infection?

You should be fine but it does sound strange that she would even pick the tube off the floor. I had a nurse drop the cap off the needle on the floor and when I pointed out that it had rolled under the counter she told me she couldn't pick it up anyway since she had sterile gloves on. She was also one of the best nurses I've ever had draw my blood--and I had a lot of blood draws last year.

Hi Jurisane, that was also my concern, picking something up from a dirty floor with gloves and wearing the same gloves to take my blood. I saw my GP this afternoon about another matter (very swollen feet) and mentioned the incident to her. She said that the nurse should have just left it on the floor and used a fresh one, then picked it up after I'd left. She added that she needed to talk to all the nurses about hygiene when using needles on patients in general so I'm wondering if there have been other incidents. I'm a worrier in general but I've gone through so much to become pregnant with this baby, it upsets me that a healthcare professional can be so casual when it comes to hygiene. I'm annoyed with myself I didn't speak out at the time, lesson learned I guess.