Unhygienic practices?

[worriedabouthygiene]

Is filling syringes at a receptionist's desk unhygienic? I went to a doctor's office today for a job interview and they gave me some "on the spot training" which was basically sit at the phone and answer it, and fill syringes between calls. Oh, and unwrapping bandages. They showed me how to fill the syringe and left me to it. I didn't have gloves or anything and I was handling the phone without washing my hands between syringe/phone times. And they had me unwrapping bandages and shoving them into big sandwich bags. The needles went into separate sandwich bags.

It was my first time handling a syringe and I'm pretty sure they gave all the people that were being "interviewed" this task.

Am I being paranoid or is there something sketchy about the doctor that runs this place?

I also searched reviews of her practice and the majority of her patients seem really dissatisfied. It also seems that she does this "training" sort of interview daily according to what I read.

I'm not going to post her name or practice or anything like that, I'm just worried that her practices could be considered health hazards.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

I did a clinical rotation at a same day facility, at the end of the day, the nurses would pre-fill lidocain for wheels they would use for IV starts. I see no problem with that, but these were RNs not MAs and it wasn't at the front desk.

It's "wheals," even though they are generally round-ish, and it's not acceptable to have meds drawn up out of a multi-use vial and sitting around overnight before use. You might want to reconsider what you have a problem with.

[mariebailey, MSN, RN]

It's "wheals," even though they are generally round-ish, and it's not acceptable to have meds drawn up out of a multi-use vial and sitting around overnight before use. You might want to reconsider what you have a problem with.

Agree, agree, agree! This gives so much opportunity for contamination due to microbial growth in the syringe. A couple of other thoughts:

-The CDC recommends that you discard vaccines drawn up and not used in the same clinic day (some have shorter lifespans) even if the stability of the vaccine is proven to persist beyond that time frame.

-Drawing up medicine far in advance can cause some medicine to adhere to the plastic in the syringe.

-Interaction with the plastic in the syringe over a long period of time can affect the potency of the medication.

[rn2b 2012]

doesn't seem too bad

[RNperdiem, RN]

You intuituion spoke to you and you listened to it. You can't go wrong if you follow your gut feelings.

I would not like to go to a doctor's office and see the MAs or secretaries drawing up syringes between phone calls-something hinky about that.