Exposure to Hep C blood daily??

[mzsuccess]

I know this may sounds dumb.

But I work in a rehab where I'm the only nurse for the evening.

I haven't been taught to draw blood.

I have to do the capillary finger stick and I get bad anxiety because 9/10 is Hep C positive.

I try my best to work on my technique but sometimes it gets messy where the blood is all over my gloves and its like I'm having a full on panic attack inside. I don't trust gloves! needless to say. I still feel super expose.

I asked for the vacuum that sucks the blood up but my job says its too expansive and then if i have to stick them more than once they tell all the other patients about it.

I make sure to wipe everything down and to keep my cuts covered. But then sometimes after i sensitize I notice a cut on my finger.

None of the other nurses draw blood its only me and take sometimes 10 mins doing it this way. Is it worth it to take a phlebotomy course?

[brownbook]

Yes you are slightly at risk, read my first post.....find out if your place of employment has any type of OSHA regulations. If where you work is covered under OSHA guidelines you report to your manager that you were exposed to a patient's blood and you will get tested, at no cost to you, for hepatitis and HIV. You should have the name of the patient whose blood you were exposed so the patient can be tested also.

If where you work does not have any kind of OSHA regulations in place you need to quit!

[mzsuccess]

Yes you are slightly at risk, read my first post.....find out if your place of employment has any type of OSHA regulations. If where you work is covered under OSHA guidelines you report to your manager that you were exposed to a patient's blood and you will get tested, at no cost to you, for hepatitis and HIV. You should have the name of the patient whose blood you were exposed so the patient can be tested also.

If where you work does not have any kind of OSHA regulations in place you need to quit!

I wasn't exposed to their blood. Just asking if doing it this way is posing risk.

If that's the case I've done maybe a 100 since started probably 90 had hep c/ HIV

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

It's not uncommon for me to have to poke a patient's finger twice for a finger stick glocose check because I can't get a good drop of blood.

https://ayassbioscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/genetic-testing-specimen-collection-instructions-8-1024x690.jpg

This is how it goes? But sometimes the blood doesn't run in the tube and all over my gloves. They don't have the best gloves and wondering is drawing blood this way putting me at risk?

How much blood go you have to get into that container? 99% of the fingersticks I have done do not produce as much blood as in that photo, let alone enough to get up to any of those lines on the tube. What are you sticking the pts with to get that volume of blood out of a finger stick?

I don't know that a phlebotomy course is really going to help you with this type of blood draw.

[broughden]

I must be missing something. Are you doing a capillary draw? After a finger prick?

Or pricking it and then milking the finger into some container?

Because for the life of me I cannot understand how you are getting blood "everywhere" with a capillary draw. It's literally the easiest thing in the world and takes 2 seconds.

Are you in the US? Explain exactly what you are doing.....

[mzsuccess]

How much blood go you have to get into that container? 99% of the fingersticks I have done do not produce as much blood as in that photo, let alone enough to get up to any of those lines on the tube. What are you sticking the pts with to get that volume of blood out of a finger stick?

I don't know that a phlebotomy course is really going to help you with this type of blood draw.

Yes, fingers tick and then milk their finger to fill the tube. Yes I'm in the US.

[mzsuccess]

I must be missing something. Are you doing a capillary draw? After a finger prick?

Or pricking it and then milking the finger into some container?

Because for the life of me I cannot understand how you are getting blood "everywhere" with a capillary draw. It's literally the easiest thing in the world and takes 2 seconds.

Are you in the US? Explain exactly what you are doing.....

Well it's not easy for me.

I clean with alcohol

hold the finger downward

start milking the finger to get blood going

then prick the finger on side

and try to get the collection.

sometimes it's easy and then sometimes it's blood all over my gloves

[broughden]

Yes, fingers tick and then milk their finger to fill the tube. Yes I'm in the US.

You must be over squeezing or milking the finger, and creating to large of a blood drop. The capillary tube basically fills itself, one small drop at a time.

Its a fairly easy procedure.

Watch this:

[mzsuccess]

You must be over squeezing or milking the finger, and creating to large of a blood drop. The capillary tube basically fills itself, one small drop at a time.

Its a fairly easy procedure.

Watch this:

Hi I saw that video!

But he's using the vacuum suck thingy.

We don't have those we just have to catch the blood in he tube

[mtmkjr, BSN]

Hi I saw that video!

But he's using the vacuum suck thingy.

We don't have those we just have to catch the blood in he tube

Where is there a vacuum suck thingy? Are you talking about the capillary tube?

[mzsuccess]

Where is there a vacuum suck thingy? Are you talking about the capillary tube?

Yes the thing he uses sucks the blood up vs using gravity

[mzsuccess]

This is the exact procedure

[broughden]

Yes the thing he uses sucks the blood up vs using gravity

Thats what YOU said you were doing. A capillary blood draw. Its not a suction machine it just uses natural capillary action.

What are you putting the blood into?!?

Are you really an RN? This post is making less and less sense. You dont seem to be very familiar with pretty basic techniques. Im not even in nursing school yet (3 more weeks) and Ive performed capillary tube blood draws numerous times.