Blood

• The major potential hazards from blood are Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and HIV

• All staff should receive a Hepatitis B vaccination shortly after joining to protect from infection (see ⛵Onboarding & Pre-Start Checks for more information)
• Staff which take blood from patients or handle blood samples should take the following additional precautions to avoid infection

See also 🩸Blood borne viruses (BBV)

Precautions for taking blood

Before taking a patients blood, put gloves on, try to stay as relaxed as possible, and advise the patient to stay still and lie down (if appropriate). Take your time and do not rush through the procedure.

1. Withdraw the needle from the vein whilst covering the site of the needle puncture with a cotton wool ball
2. Do not re-sheath the needle as this can cause 💉Needlestick injuries
3. Once the blood sample has been taken, immediately place the needle and vacutainer holder into the sharps bin
4. To avoid spills, take care when removing the vacutainer from the inducer
5. If required, the vacutainer can be mixed with preservative by gently rolling or tipping the bottle but do NOT shake it
6. Individual blood samples should be placed into a sealed, plastic pathology sample bag and stored in a cool, safe place. Any forms accompanying the sample should be separately attached.

Precautions for handling blood samples

All blood samples must be contained in a sealed, approved sample tube and the tube placed into a sealed, approved plastic bag.

Precautions to take if in contact with patients who are bleeding

• Wear gloves when dealing with open wounds, regardless of whether they are bleeding or not
• If bleeding is heavy, wear a plastic apron
• The patient should not be allowed to leave the practice whilst still bleeding
• The patients’ contaminated clothing should be placed in a plastic bag and returned to the patient. We should advise patients to soak their clothes in cold water as described below

Other body fluids

• Additional patient samples taken in the practice include urine, faeces, vomit, phlegm/sputum, vaginal specula, spatula and smears

• All patient samples must be in a suitable container, as described in our 🧪Samples page
• If you are handling any of these samples, always wear appropriate PPE (see 😷Personal protective equipment (PPE)for more information)
• If any sample containers leak, dispose of as clinical waste and take a new sample

Microbiological swabs

Precautions for taking swabs from infected lesions

• Do NOT touch the infected area with your hands or clothing
• Make sure that the container for the swab and the patient are reasonably close together
• Take care to ensure that the swab contains enough material for analysis, but not so much that the material could drip before reaching the container
• Once in the container, seal and put in a sealed plastic hazard bag. The accompanying form should be placed a separate pocket of the hazard bag

How to handle a spillage

Additional advice

• Keep patients, staff and visitors away from the spill, using a warning sign if available
• Put on PPE, including eye protection, long cuff disposable nitrile gloves and a disposable apron
• Paper towels and PPE should be disposed of as clinical waste and hands washed

Decontamination and disposal of contaminated clothing

Try to wear protective clothing whenever possible. If your clothing does become contaminated, take the following steps:

1. Remove as much excess material as you can using gloves and a disposable wipe
2. Avoid allowing contaminated clothing to come into contact with surfaces on which food is prepared
3. Change into clean clothes
4. Wash contaminated clothing:
• by soaking in cold water before washing, if blood-stained. Disinfect the bowl/sink that the clothing was soaked in after use.
• separately from other clothing and at a high temperature, if soiled