how much would this concern you? - about midwife blood draw

[noahs_wings]

midwife came over to draw blood for the triple screen.

First she scheduled the appointment yesterday sort of fitting me in cause it wasnt planned, i mean we didnt plan to do the test but had to fit it in before 20 weeks so there was a hurry

She then called in the morning like an hour before the appointment to cancel and came today instead. Fine I actually originally said we are flexible, im a sahm and can accommodate no problem.

Then she came and filled out the paperwork for a few minutes then went to draw the blood but seemed really nervous

so she looked at my vein, chose an arm put the rubberband thing on and then just stuck the needle and and forgot to wipe the arm (or needle, although i am pretty sure its like a 1 time use deal ) with a sterile wipe or grab a cotton ball so then she goes "o no" and im like freaked out and then she says o i just forgot to grab a cotton ball and my daugher got her bag and we sort of grabbed one together.

Then she left real quick and forgot her purse, which i ran out to her...

Just the whole thing seemed kind of flaky to me or like airheadish i dont know. She has lots of experience and i like her personality and she is very knowledgeable and there are a lot of good things i like about her...

is this a big deal? Should I be worried?

[BlackSheepPDX]

well....I don't think I'd be real comfortable letting her give me stitches, that's for sure.

[EMandM]

IMO everyone has off days sometimes. My family practice doctor does my blood draws, and he has forgotten to sterilize my skin before sticking before. I think if it isn't something you do every day (like a phlebotomist), it is a little easier to skip a step, or not have everything ready. It sounds like she was having an off day. Maybe talk to her about it. If it were me and it was a one time thing, I would overlook it as long as the flakiness didn't persist.

[Defenestrator]

Some midwives (like, say, me) are very self-conscious about doing anything we know our clients don't like, will hurt them, and and might require multiple attempts to be completed successfully. I hate doing blood draws for that reason and send most of my women to the lab to have blood drawn or have the nurses who work for me do it. i bet you if you asked most obs to draw your blood, they would totally flub it up. It is a nurse skill, not a doctor skill in their world. Doesn't mean that they couldn't do surgery on you very well. I feel totally comfortable with doing stitches -- I can numb up the mom and then take my time and do slow, careful work. But I hate drawing blood.

[nashvillemidwife]

Has she given you any other reason to be concerned? Personally, I don't think it's fair to let one incident spoil your total impression.

Logically, if something happens once it is an incident. Twice could be a coincidence. It takes three times to establish a pattern.

[noahs_wings]

thanks for the replies! It would totally make sense that she doesnt like doing it. For the first blood work she sent me to the lab, and even sort of apologized before hand for having to do it herself and said that for this particular test she needs to fill out paperwork and do it herself or mail it herself and because of the time sensitivity i cant go to the lab for it.

She has been really great so far! I read her experience and she was recommended through friends who had 2 births with her, so i didnt really focus when choosing her on my confidence with her, it was more of a personality thing, she seemed totally hands off and willing and open to whatever we wanted basically which i loved.

She was very apologetic and sort of freaked out when she realized and almost didnt know what to do, but then found herself and calmed down like I assume its not something that has ever happened before, so i guess her anger at herself for the mistake sort of shows a lot too and she was able to move on I mean it wasnt like she started crying and froze up or something.

i didnt even think it was such a big deal in the moment but after she left I was like wait wow what just happened?

So i feel better about it now.


By the way anyone know if the syringe would have been sterile? It was a typical needle coming out of a plastic thing that you stick the glass blood jar things into, i didnt see it come out of the package, but i wasnt paying attn i mean it probably did. Now im just freaking out about like did she stick me with a dirty needle or something but i doubt that...

[MidwifeErika]

I am sure she would have used a clean needle. If you have doubts, ask her. They are sterile under the plastic cap, so it isn't like there is additional packaging for it to come out of.

[Defenestrator]

Yes, you can assume that it was sterile. The vacutainer attachments (the plastic tubes that the blood vials go into) can be used again, but the needles are single use and it would be really weird for someone who knew anything about drawing blood to try and use them again.

[AmaraMonillas]

I have no doubt the needle was sterile. Last time I was in the hospital (2 years ago) I had to have my blood drawn every couple hours, and I don't remember them wiping the skin with anything beforehand.

[womenswisdom]

I'm sure the needle was sterile and honestly the alcohol wipe doesn't actually sterilize your skin, it just removes any surface dirt so I wouldn't worry abou that either. Sounds like she was distracted or nervous for some reason and really the only thing was that she forgot the cotton ball for afterward, right? Doesn't really sound like a huge deal to me.

[holothuroidea]

Going against popular opinion, that would be a total deal breaker for me.

There are things that I can overlook (my midwife, for example, did not wear gloves when she drew my blood) but the lack of confidence and professionalism is something I would be very uncomfortable with. The last thing I want is to be in the middle of an emergency and have my midwife unconfident about putting in an IV line.

Sure she may not like doing it, but it's part of her job. To me it's not so much a big deal that she forgot the swab or the cotton ball, but that she was so fearful and apologetic.

[dannic]

In some states, like mine, a cannot put in an IV.

[mwherbs]

with the way the insurance is and the way the laws are around labs- it is easier to send gals to the lab to have blood work done - it use to be that if you had a lab contract as a provider you could offer a discount and do the draw yourself but that no longer exists here- so everyone goes to the lab that their insurance will pay for or they go to the cash lab- either way that puts me way out of practice- I would be nervous to do this as well -
the last time I had my blood drawn at a lab the gal was so practiced it was like art- no way even when we did our own labs was I ever that smooth-

[Sustainer]

Originally Posted by nashvillemidwife

Logically, if something happens once it is an incident. Twice could be a coincidence. It takes three times to establish a pattern.

This. I agree she could have been having an off day. If she keeps doing things like this then you might consider looking for someone else.