Worried can someone please help

Question

Yesterday I went to the lab for a blood draw for a health physical.  The nurse drawing the blood used a vacuette quickshield with a needle attached to it and then filled 4 vials of blood.  My problem is when she got to the last vial it appeared that blood was in the vial all ready from a previous patient.  I know vials are not reused but if there was a human error and she drew my blood into a vial with someone else's blood would there be a risk there.  If there is no risk can you please explain.  I am sorry if i seem paranoid but this is bothering me a whole lot.  I truly believe that she reused a vile with some blood in it all ready.  This is a very busy lab with fast turn over and many patients in and out.

nihus · Answer

This was posted by mistake. I have reached out to the moderators to get this deleted from here . I'm just anxious abt usage of reused needles...aLSO, This thread talks abt the vacutainers...nevertheless pls ignore.  thanks for keeping a tab on my posts.

uncledudeness · Answer

first of all this thread is almost a year and a half old, and secondly this is a HEP C forum not a whatever forum...i can't even figure out what you are asking...i know i'm not that smart, but really? you made 6 posts about this..

nihus · Answer

I recently got an HIV rapid test done. Since two days, I have not been able to relax. I did not check the medical attendant unwrap a new needle before taking the sample. I went back to the hospital next day to confirm if only fresh needles are used by then and was told that vacutainers are used to withdraw samples. I then sat next to the attendant to see the procedure and get reassurance but unfortunately it simply reaffirmed my doubts. 
When my blood sample was being collected, the blood squirted with pressure in a little canal (just next to where the needle ends, not the vaccum tube). The end tube did not even look like a vacutainer to me and the procedure used on the other people looked so different from what was used on me. I am really scared and I'm not confident about the practices used in hospitals here. I saw the plastic needle holder also being reused and not sterilized between patients.
Please let me know if the needle could have been reused? The way blood squirted and started collecting just immediately below where the needle ends makes me feel really anxious. The procedure used on others and even the equipment (the vacutainer) used the next day looked different from what was used on me.
Please help me. I do not understand the functionality of blood sample collecting equipments nor am I confident that the needle was not reused. Even the hospital staff seemed indifferent and said that though vacutainers are used they cannot say for sure if the same brand or category of equipment was used.
I am really worried so much so that it’s affecting my sleep and work. I can swear that the hospital clearly looked not so well maintained ..its killing me!

medicmommy · Answer

You have no worries there. Each time the vacutainer (the little barrel that the blood tube slips into) is used, it has a fresh needle on the end. Even if your blood was drawn into a partially used tube that by some freak chance had some vacuum left, your blood would go in, the other blood wouldn't push out. In the 25 years of blood draws that I've done on patients, not once have I had a blood tube become pressurized and squirt blood back out of it. 

If I were you, I'd be most worried about your blood mixing with someone else's in the blood tube, creating incorrect lab results. My suggestion? -Take it up with your lab and have a re-draw done -just to be sure...~MM

donallen999 · Answer

My concern would have been the other persons blood traveling through the vial and into the needle thats in my arm

donallen999 · Answer

Thanks for the replies.  I just needed some assurance that transmission cannot occur like this. Thank you all.  Sorry Bill1954 if i offended you.

James10500 · Answer

Impossible, there would be no vacuum.  Even if it was it's the needle not the tube, that would need to have blood on it.

Diane12855 · Answer

Gee... you can remember the names of stuff.... I hope I get my memory back when I'm done with tx.

Diane

Diane12855 · Answer

I didn't see your post before I posted. Oh well... if I wasted my time answering, it won't kill me.

Diane

FlGuy · Answer

Depending on the test designated for each vial, the vacutainer may have various substances in them. These can include anticoagulants, gels and other stuff that is used for sample preparation and separation of blood cells. Then, they are vacuum filled so that the vial will suck the blood into the vial through the needle and tube stuck in your arm. Do you remember what color the top was for the tube? They are color-coded for these purposes. It could not have been blood from another patient. Otherwise the vacuum would have been evacuated.

willbb · Answer

A risk for what? The worst that could happen is that you would be diagnosed incorrectly possibly and then have your blood retested.

WILL

Diane12855 · Answer

The vials they use to collect blood come from the manufacturer with a pretty good vacuum built in and the rubber top gets punctured when it is pierced by the back side of the needle  apparatus. You can't take the vial off without loosing the vacuum. It wouldn't draw any blood into it if they tried to reuse it.

You have nothing to worry about as far as this goes.

Diane

Bill1954 · Answer

I don’t know how anyone in here could possibly address your risk. If someone else’s blood entered into your blood, there’s obviously risk for disease transmission. You’re apparently familiar with lab equipment, and I tend to doubt the authenticity of your post. If you have questions, bring them up with the lab staff—

Bill