[tracyb]

Yes and you can tell them if they question you that you are following the guidelines, the retests are so expensive, and its unfair on the babe ( and parents) for it to be redone again good luck for your first attempt x

[Sarahbs]

Now I have mentioned it to my mentors. They have all wiped the first spot away hehehe. Though they have all said that feel cack handed when wearing gloves.

[tracyb]

hehe well done to you, very good lady xThe path lab will love you x

[Sarahbs]

Did my first PKU today, used gloves didnt feel cack handed at all. Just like a evil (*&^ from hell hehe. But my mentor was really supportive .

[smwife]

Originally Posted by Sarahbs Did my first PKU today, used gloves didnt feel cack handed at all. Just like a evil (*&^ from hell hehe. But my mentor was really supportive .

Good for you Sarah!

The first one is always the hardest! I haven't forgotten the tiny little boy!!!

[AtTheDesk]

Lots of midwives at my trust do not wear gloves for PKU.

However, I agree with Tracey: no gloves, no PKU.

Some babes bleed loads and as the hospital soap often leaves my hands with small cracks in them, I would not want to risk some grubby infants blood swimming into my circulation.

Babies are often not very clean, late bathing is now recommended practice and consequently they maybe be covered in Group B Strep bacteria, Hepatitis B and HIV contaminined body fluids.

God, babies YUK!

Bring back the bath at birth I say.

[pumpkin]

I have done two PKU's and didnt wear gloves (they werent even mentioned so didnt think to) first spot of blood wasnt wiped away and we double spotted!! wasnt with my usual mentor but im going to look at the guidelines and then see how she does it before questioning the practice.

i found it really hard both babies didnt want to give up their blood one i did over my knee but i found that really awkward so the next baby i did whilst being fed found it easier but still quite hard probably because they didnt bleed very much, so hopefully ill find it easier if i get a good bleeder!!!!

[Sarahbs]

Yeah I normally do it to babies whilst feeding/cuddled babys, I have a habit of being pucked on at the moment so normally ask mum to hold babe hehe

[MadwifeMcCann]

Wiping the first spot of blood away is only really necessary when doing bm's, the argument being that there are contaminants on the first spot from the skin that could interfere with the accuracy of the reading. For the PKU, the test is a genetic test, and so the first spot will provide exactly the same results as the others. Definitely wear gloves though for any procedure involving bodily fluids.

[Ani]

*bump*

Just bumping this up cos I asked my mentor about the gloves issue yesterday. I vaguely recalled seeing something on here about this.