Phlebotomist wearing same gloves

Resolved question:
Hello,

My question relates to an incident I had this morning and I’m not sure if I’m being paranoid or if I should be concerned. This morning I had blood and urine work. Throughout the procedure the phlebotomist wore gloves and continued to wear the same gloves when he stepped out of the room to get my urine cup and hand it to me. After he handed me my urine cup, I went into the restroom and when I was urinating into the cup, the cup touched my inner thighs and vagina. My question is: should I be concerned that the same gloves he wore to remove my blood and the patients before me touched the same urine cup that touched my vagina and inner thighs? Or is this a foolish concern? My concern isn't so much my blood, but any blood tracings that may have remained on the phlebotomist's gloves from previous blood work.

Submitted: 4 Days
Category: Family Physician-GP

Expert:  Dr. Jaydeep Tripathy replied 4 Days.

Hello,

Thank you for choosing DoctorSpring.

There is NO reason to worry and yes your being bit paranoid.

First of all - It is highly unlikey that there will be any blood on the Phlebotomists hand. Phelobotomists are professions deals with blood everyday and they know better than any to manage and keep blood without any spillage.

Second - There was only indirect contact. (No direct blood - to your body). Indirect contact has near zero risk

Third - Only contact with intact skin. Most blood related transmission (as in HIV) cannot occur via intact skin. That means there should have be an open wound or abrasion in your thighs for the transmission to occur.

So putting all these together your concern we can see there no reason to be worried.
Hope this helps
Feel free to ask follouwp questions

Thank you

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