23F Canada
I have a long term CSF leak and a pain clinic is going to be giving me IV fluids a few times a week to hopefully help manage severe symptoms a bit in the meantime until I can get my next scans.
I had my first appointment today and am uncomfortable with the way it went. the anesthesiologist put in the IV right after touching the area with unclean gloves (walked in and out with them on and touched door, table, stool she was sitting on, etc) instead of wiping it and later touched various parts of the connectors and site with those gloves on as well as with unsanitized bare hands. the nurse who disconnected me at the end wiped a bunch of my blood off of an uncovered pillow with a regular kleenex then used that same bloody kleenex to wipe the end of the line, before flushing it and putting on a cap that had been rolling around on the table and touched by both her and the doctor’s hands that were touching other things/people in other rooms without sanitizing/changing gloves. kleenex were also used to clean around the catheter when it leaked. there were a few other smaller things but these stood out to me most. the kleenex thing felt the most unusual. I know this isn’t a sterile procedure, but the way they did it didn’t seem to meet the standard for just being clean.
I was supposed to leave this IV in and go back to use it again later this week, but I ended up going to my family doctor after the appointment to have her help me remove it because I just don’t want to take an unnecessary risk of getting any sicker than I already am right now.
Unfortunately this is the only clinic we have been able to find that will allow me to access this treatment without having to pay privately. My family doctor said she thinks my concerns were valid and I need to talk to the anesthesia doctor about them if I am going to keep going back.
How can I communicate with the doctor that I need her to be a bit more careful without offending her or making her not want to treat me?