title: Predonation finger lancet punctures: a potential risk factor for interdonor pathogen transmission in the blood donor clinic.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Point-of-care testing using capillary blood from a finger prick is widely used for predonation haemoglobin testing of blood donors. It is common practice to cover the finger prick with a cotton swab and to instruct the donor to press for few minutes. The finger prick can cause blood contamination of surfaces in contact with the lanced finger, especially door handles, risking infectious disease transmission, particularly if another person touching the contaminated door handle also has a punctured fingertip.
  
  
  METHODS
  First, we investigated contamination by blood (benzidine assay) of the door handles of our blood donor clinic, taking 175 samples 3 h after opening of the donation centre (baseline). We then introduced band-aids to cover the finger prick and started an information campaign using educational flyers to sensitize blood donors and staff to this problem (period-1). Thereafter, the staff was instructed to use the non-dominant hand for blood sampling and mandated to replace any discarded band-aids immediately (period-2).
  
  
  RESULTS
  At baseline, 82% of the nurse room door handles showed contamination with blood. This decreased somewhat (10-40%) after period-1, but only after immediate mandatory band-aid replacement on any donor finger without a band-aid (period-2), no further blood contaminations were detected.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Blood contamination of shared surfaces can occur after finger prick for capillary blood sampling. Application of a band-aid and use of the non-dominant hand for fingertip incision are easy to apply and effective in reducing this iatrogenic health hazard.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Immunologie und Transfusionsmedizin, Universitätsmedizin, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Greinacher
authors.affiliation: Institut für Immunologie und Transfusionsmedizin, Universitätsmedizin, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lubenow
mesh_terms: D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission*; D001782:Blood Donors; D058731:Blood Safety; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000379:methods*; D006403:Hematologic Tests; D006801:Humans; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: blood collection; blood safety; donor health; donors; predonation Hb-determination; quality management; transfusion - transmissible infections