blood draw

[worriedmama71]

About a year and a half ago my daughter had a high fever on and off for about three weeks. Her doctor thought it would be a good idea to have a blood test done to rule out anythng serious. Thank God all turned out well with that part. However it has been a constant worry to be because of the way the test was conducted. There was another child in the lab having blood work done so we had to wait. The nurse that was doing my daughter's test went in a few minutes before us, but while the other patient was still in with the other nurse. A few minutes later the other patient walked out and our nurse called us in. When we got in the room there was a paper towel already set up with a cotton ball soaked in alcohol , blood tubes for the test and a butterfly needle already out of the package but it did have a plastic sheath covering the needle itself. There was no tube holder in sight though. I asked the nurse why the needle was out of the package already but she did not comment. I was so nervous about my daughter I stupidly let her continue and didn't ask for a new needle. I did think it was strange that she never put a tube holder on the needle, though iI don't know if all needles require one or not. She was not able to draw blood with that needle so she took out a new one and tried again. With that she still wasn't able so she called in anoher nurse to try and that nurse succeeded but with a butterfly attached to a syringe. My question is , do you think it was ok that the butterfly needle was already out of the package. Is this a standard to set up and unpackage without the patient? Also why was there no tube holder ?  This made me more nervous, maybe the nurse was not experienced at all. Also ther was another patient and maybe a mistake was made with the needle having been used on that child first. I did not see any blood in the tubing of the needle but then there wasn't any after she tried on my daughter because she was not able to draw blood.Please respond , this has been killing me for so long!

[worriedmama71]

ok ,thanks for your understanding.....

[Teak]

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[worriedmama71]

Hi again....I guess a recent post by Dr H  on this site has me a bit concerned. On January 19th  I believe there was a person asking about HIV through a blood test. The person questioned about the guaze etc...He replied , that he never heard of a case but if it did happen it would be because of a needle being reused on more  than one person. I think here he somewhat admits its possible ...I'm sick over this because it is my child. If anyone could give me an idea of the chances of HIV in my case or what I should do I'd appreciate it. Thanks

[Teak]

You have nothing to be concerned about. Leave the blood drawing up to the professionals that are knowledgeable about their job. At no time was your child at risk.

[worriedmama71]

Even so , shouldn't one of these have been in reach before the needle was in her arm? It wasn't, The nurse had the needle in , I don't know what her plan was if the blood did start to flow nor do I know how it would have if there was no tube attached , this is why I think she was inexperienced, which makes me question her knowledge or common sense on the use of a new needle, sorry but I am concerned as it is my child....thanks again

[Teak]

Butterfly has a cap on the end that has to be removed before applying to syringe or vac u tube holder.

[worriedmama71]

But doesn't a butterfly require either a tube holder or a syringe , none of which were out... thanks

[Teak]

No it's not weird at all.

[worriedmama71]

Thank you , but is it possible that one of the nurses re sheath the needle, and isn't it weird that she did not attach a tube holder, just makes me feel she didn't know much about this, sorry to be such a pain, just very worried

[Teak]

No risk and it's still done like that today in the busy labs and clinics.