Question about drawing blood on an inpatient

Nurses General Nursing

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A friend of mine recently spent 2 days in the hospital after having chest pain. She stated when the nurses drew blood they tore a piece of tape, put gauze on the tape, and stuck the tape to their pant leg. When they were done with the blood draw they used this tape with the gauze to cover the blood draw. She had 3 blood draws while in the hospital and she stated they all did it this way.

Is that how it is normally done? I'm not a nurse and I'm not a student until July, so I have no clue. Her concern was passing germs, since she came home a bit sicker than when she went in (viral symptoms, all I know is she said she had a fever).

Thanks in advance for explaining this to me so I can maybe reassure her that this is normal.....or not???

Specializes in Critical Care.

it's not the worst way to do it but it's not the best way either...the chances of germs getting in the draw site are pretty minimal

as a nurse you almost always take off a piece of tape and stick it to something so it will be readily available (unless you have 8 hands) - whether it's your pant leg, the counter or the bed rail it's all contaminated. unless i was working with a sterile field i wouldn't honestly think about this too much

Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

I always tape the edge of the tape to the bedrail (or sometimes the edge of my nametag). But I generally toss all supplies, including the 2x2 itself, on the patient's bed. The bedspread is probably not the cleanest place either.

Unless your friend actually noticed that the draw site itself looked infected, then it's highly doubtful that she "caught" anything from that. Most likely she caught something simply from being in a hospital, which is a pretty disgusting, germ-ridden place in general.

Specializes in ED, ICU, PSYCH, PP, CEN.

Your friend was right to be concerned. What you described made me cringe. True that way saves a little time, but is a very germy way to do this. When I worked in a level 1 trauma center they broke me of this practice.

I now set up a bedside table or place my iv set up stuff on the bed. Place my iv or draw the blood, then ask the patient not to move while I tear off the appropriate amount of tape and pick up a clean piece of guaze from the bedside table. Granted, the only place you can guarantee sterility is the operating room, but we can certainly do better than touching our dirty, germy pants with what we are now going to place over your punctured skin.

I was also taught to not pre pull the tape and tape it to the dirty bed or tables before I put it on the patient.

I have been doing this for several years now and feel good about keeping my patients as safe as possible.

On their pants? Never saw that. Yuck. Yucky yuck. Hold gauze in place, maybe ask the pt to hold the gauze, then tear tape.

I always pre-pull my tape, but here's how I was taught to avoid contamination: along with your supplies, bring in a cup holding two sani-wipes (hospital-grade antibacterial wipes). Use one to wipe down the bedside table or whatever surface you are going to put your supplies down on. Also wipe down the edge of table or rail where you plan to put the tape that you prepare. Then after you finish, and clean up your supplies, wipe down all surfaces again.

Would never use a pant leg. Regardless of the stats on actual infection rates, that would likely make any alert/oriented patient cringe. I certainly wouldn't want it done to me, if I were a patient.

Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.

Many people (not all) do it this way--i.e. rip of a piece of tape in advance and stick on to a bedrail, table, etc (I must admit, I have never seen someone stick it on their pants). In our ED, we keep rolls of tape in a container in the closet, on a counter in the nurses station, etc....Obviously this tape is not sterile, so ripping off a small piece and sticking it (really a half cm of it) on the table isn't going to do that much harm.

While I cannot say this with 100% certainty, I suspect her being 'a bit sicker' when she went home is probably not due to the tape incident. (once again, that is my opinion on the situation, not fact)

I just finished a phlebotomy course. If you're going to use torn tape, place it on the back of your non-dominant, gloved hand. Your gloves will be cleaner than most any other surface, even if they aren't sterile.

Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.

Another though about the situation...

When you are starting an IV, it is best to have your supplied (tape, dressing, etc.) ready to go. While it would be nice to find a sterile piece of tape to use, this is not really practical in that situation. (and, yes, I know the OP was about inpatient blood draws, but often in the ED blood draws and IV starts are one and the same)

Specializes in Phlebotomist, nursing student.

Ex-phlebotomist here. Used to pre-tear tape and put it on my glove, on the back of my non-dominant hand. I considered just about every surface to be contaminated. Unless the draw site was obviously infected, I seriously doubt that any following illness was blood-draw related.

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