Would you consider that an 'exposure'?

Nurses General Nursing

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I have asked a question similar to this one but I was curious what others would think.

One evening in December I was hanging a transfusion for a pt. For some ridiculous reason I was not wearing gloves this time (it was a BAD BAD night) :banghead: and I had gotten a maybe 3-4 large drops of blood on my left hand, mainly the fingertips. I washed it off immediately (I was standing right next to the sink) and I didn't think about it again until the next day. Because I have a serious anxiety problem sometimes I thought about it again randomly and almost had a panic attack -- thinking WHAT IF that blood (I know there's a 1 in a million chance) had HIV in it or Hep C.. and it had touched my fingers, which were very chapped as it was and may have had a nick or two in them. I know the testing on blood today is exceptional. I called my manager and she wasn't even sure that would be considered an 'exposure' so she had me call the employee health line. I think they only reason they went along with a test now and one in 6 months was because of my ANXIETY. So I'm thinking, would anyone else consider that as an exposure? Or would you have just washed your hands off, put gloves on, and continued about your way. Thanks for your responses.

The nurses I've talked to about this pretty much said they wouldn't have thought anything about it. I remember reading on a separate post somewhere though that it WOULD be. I plan on visiting my MD this week for an evaluation of my anxiety. Until then, I was trying to find as much information as I could.

Also how many documented cases has their been of HIV from blood transfusion in the past 5 years or so? I am having a hard time finding the statistics on this. Thanks for your sensitivity.

Also I'm wondering if I can just cancel the 6 month follow up? Would they allow me to in this case?

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Flight.

just talk to your doc and get a script for xanax or something...lol.. just kidding..

honestly though... what did you do?.. spike the bag wrong?... how did you get it on you?.. anyway... if it was blood from the blood bank i wouldn't really sweat it at all...in the ER that i work in i have been known to get strangers blood on my even when i am wearing gloves.. it happens.. but if you are freaking out about some blood from a bag?...

don't freak out about it... im sure your fine...

im seriously not making fun of you.. but if you are worried about a few drops of blood that has been tested again and again and is fit to put into a pt... then you are worrying too much!!!

:cool:

:cool:

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I was trying to prime the tubing and I was holding it over the garbage can. I'm really not sure how it managed to get on my hand. Thanks for telling me I'm worrying too much -- it does help a little :)

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Specializes in SICU, EMS, Home Health, School Nursing.

I wouldn't be too concerned about it either. They test and retest the blood for transfusions, so the risk of getting anything from a transfusion is very very slim, so I would think that the risk of getting anything from a few drops on your skin is nearly 0. To be completely honest, if it was me, I probably would have just washed my hands and never thought twice about it!

I always prime the blood tubing with NS (that is our policy) and I always wear gloves... but we are also required to wear gloves at all times while in patient rooms in the critical care areas where I work.

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Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.

I would not be concerned about that type of blood exposure because it has already been tested. However, if it had been the blood from the patient I would have been concerned and taken the correct post exposure procedure.

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

I believe technically that contamination with any blood at any time is "exposure". However, the chances that you are infected are slim. Sure makes you think twice about the gloves!

I once had a bag EXPLODE as I was spiking it. A real mess. I was such a new nurse that I had on goggles too - thank heavens. Our nurses refuse to put them on. One of these days------------------------

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I believe technically that contamination with any blood at any time is "exposure". However, the chances that you are infected are slim. Sure makes you think twice about the gloves!

I had actually called the health line nurse again and she said any contact with anybody's blood would be considered an exposure and would warrant follow up. She said every exposure is treated the same whether it has a <.01 of seroconversion or a she said though according to cdc recommendations if the first test was then no further testing needed i didn quite understand this but thinking referring that done on blood. want go through with month could just throw away sticker when its sent me and forget about it legally they required follow protocol.>

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Good advice here but I too had to mention that we prime the tubing with NS . . . I've never heard of priming blood over a trash can.

steph

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