Exposure to Hep C blood daily??

Nurses General Nursing

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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?

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.

That's why I hate posting here because people like you. It is a capillary blood draw without the tube just a BD container. You worry about getting through nursing school before trying to come for me. Good bye

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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.

It's literally a pain in the but trying to fill those lines. I wanted to learn to take blood via vein to not have to do it anymore because all the nurses there leave blood draws for me and it takes forever

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I am the kind of person who obtains a sense of peace by considering the worse case scenario. Let's say, despite the odds, you contract Hep C, and can prove it came from an occupational exposure. Hep C is now almost 100% treatable. Personally, I am much more worried about developing diabetes or ovarian cancer.....

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I am the kind of person who obtains a sense of peace by considering the worse case scenario. Let's say, despite the odds, you contract Hep C, and can prove it came from an occupational exposure. Hep C is now almost 100% treatable. Personally, I am much more worried about developing diabetes or ovarian cancer.....

I need to develop your attitude. It's just the gloves are not that thick and in my mind I'm thinking what if it rips or something they're seriously paper thin and I hate the fact that hep c/ hiv blood is all over my hand all because I can't draw blood I have to do it this way.

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Specializes in Surgical, Home Infusions, HVU, PCU, Neuro.
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

You are not making any sense at all. How are you getting blood all over the place, from a capillary Lancet stick, and worried about exposure to HEP C in one sentence. Then you're not exposed to their blood in another. To the gloves are thin/cheap (I dont remember exactly what you said) you have anxiety ect. You're concerned about some vacuum sucking thingy that you state was used in the video link posted by a previous poster (where there was clearly no extra equipment in the video btw) and wondering if taking a phlebotomy class would help you, voice concern over the price, complain other staff leave this to you and think doing a venipuncture will A. be quicker and B. reduce your exposure?

The class will not help you reduce exposure to the patients blood, will probably not be quicker than the capillary collection (at least not on all patients) will probably not change the fact the rest of your co-workers leave this task to be done on your shift, and your patients may possibly prefer the cap stick vs the venipuncture for this lab tests.

I also think the student broughden knows what he or she was talking about and your abrasive response to he or she was quiet frankly rude.

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You are not making any sense at all. How are you getting blood all over the place, from a capillary Lancet stick,

I also think the student broughden knows what he or she was talking about and your abrasive response to he or she was quiet frankly rude.

Thank you! I was only trying to help since she seemed to be struggling with a basic blood draw and didnt even seem to be able to communicate the basic terminology for something like a capillary collection tube, calling it a "suction thing".

What worries me is if Im already familiar with all this as a student, exactly what kind of nurse is she?

After reading through the OP's other posted threads it's all becoming more clear.....

"When Do You Stop Feeling So Stupid As A Nurse"

"Im scared to be a nurse? Thinking about leaving before starting"

"I want to quit during orientation"

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Specializes in cardiac, emergency.
Thank you! I was only trying to help since she seemed to be struggling with a basic blood draw and didnt even seem to be able to communicate the basic terminology for something like a capillary collection tube, calling it a "suction thing".

What worries me is if Im already familiar with all this as a student, exactly what kind of nurse is she?

After reading through the OP's other posted threads it's all becoming more clear.....

"When Do You Stop Feeling So Stupid As A Nurse"

"Im scared to be a nurse? Thinking about leaving before starting"

"I want to quit during orientation"

what are you, the thread police?

i think the OP was asking advice from nurses, not pre nursing students:yes:

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Specializes in Operating Room.

This seems like a simple solution to me from the outside looking in. I also agree with FurBabyMom's suggestions as a fellow OR nurse who both scrubs and circulates CV/CT cases and comes into contact with blood on a daily basis.

1. If you are having that much anxiety about something then you need to speak up and talk to your manager about it and see what can be done.

2. Take the class, anything you can do to better the situation and yourself as a healthcare provider should be taken advantage of.

3. If the problem still persists after you have exhausted these avenues and you still feel uneasy about this, then I would look for new employment elsewhere where you may not be constantly around this type of thing that bothers you.

I have been stuck by a HIV+ patient during the middle of surgery and I can surely tell you it is not a fun experience with the Employee Health monitoring, paperwork, conversation with your boss and coworkers about being stuck and the worry of trying to figure out if something actually happened to you, even though the possibility is very very minimal that you could contract the disease this way. Be diligent, take your time and follow the same methodical approach to what you are doing each time, and most importantly..the best advice I can give you is....

DOUBLE GLOVE.

DOUBLE GLOVE and get used to the feeling of wearing two pair all the time. You will be surprised how easily you can adapt and it will save you, like I believe it did me when I got stuck. Good luck.

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You are not making any sense at all. How are you getting blood all over the place, from a capillary Lancet stick, and worried about exposure to HEP C in one sentence. Then you're not exposed to their blood in another. To the gloves are thin/cheap (I dont remember exactly what you said) you have anxiety ect. You're concerned about some vacuum sucking thingy that you state was used in the video link posted by a previous poster (where there was clearly no extra equipment in the video btw) and wondering if taking a phlebotomy class would help you, voice concern over the price, complain other staff leave this to you and think doing a venipuncture will A. be quicker and B. reduce your exposure?

The class will not help you reduce exposure to the patients blood, will probably not be quicker than the capillary collection (at least not on all patients) will probably not change the fact the rest of your co-workers leave this task to be done on your shift, and your patients may possibly prefer the cap stick vs the venipuncture for this lab tests.

I also think the student broughden knows what he or she was talking about and your abrasive response to he or she was quiet frankly rude.

I'm sorry y'all must be classmates, ppl were asking questions and I was responding so yeah it may seem all over the place. So you're responding basically to take up for the student. Ok your whole book of a response isn't needed and wasn't read either.

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Thanks for your kind response I will follow your advice!!

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Thank you! I was only trying to help since she seemed to be struggling with a basic blood draw and didnt even seem to be able to communicate the basic terminology for something like a capillary collection tube, calling it a "suction thing".

What worries me is if Im already familiar with all this as a student, exactly what kind of nurse is she?

After reading through the OP's other posted threads it's all becoming more clear.....

"When Do You Stop Feeling So Stupid As A Nurse"

"Im scared to be a nurse? Thinking about leaving before starting"

"I want to quit during orientation"

Ok.... your posting my threads because???

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
Right. I just wonder if I've exposed myself to help c and if I should get tested.

We have to catch the blood inside the container and sometimes the blood runs everywhere. I've asked for the vacuum that sucks the blood via finger stick but they say it's out of their expense.

I'm just really paranoid. My technique is not up to par. He $300 class is cheapest I can find but it's hard because I'm taking prerequisites for my BSN and these courses can go up to 9 weeks

ears ago I took a phlebotomy class and it was only a 3 day course - Once you know how to find the vein and get the needle in place it's easy and you $300 dollars woul dlikely be reimbursed on taxes.

Hppy

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