Um, gloves?

[Cookie]

So, I just got back from the docs. It was a walk-in not knowing what doc I would see since mine is booked for a long time and this is day 10 of nausea. I got the doc I was hoping I wouldn't, but he seemed to listen a lot better than usual, so that's good. He sent me to the lab for bloodwork and that's when the real story starts.

My veins are hard to deal with. I know that. I warned the phlebotomist. She just smiles and sticks me and sticks the test tube on the other end. No blood. Surprise, surprise. She then starts moving the needle up and down in and out (not fully out) trying to get the blood flowing. She then twists the needle in a sweeping motion under my skin. I suppose just trying to hit something?

Then, she calls the girl that's behind the desk over to help saying "I found the vein, but there's no blood!" The one behind the desk comes over, gets some hand sanitizer, doesn't grab any gloves and instead goes straight to adjusting the needle. Before I could say anything, the blood was filling the test tube and she walked away.

My arm is sore from all the digging and I'm more than a little weirded out by the lack of gloves in that procedure.

[MaggieTheCat]

Report, report, report! The first one for digging around in your arm with a needle (I was getting queasy just reading about it) an the second one for not using gloves. Talk to the director of their department, and if that doesn't go anywhere, take it to the director of the clinic/hospital.

[iradney]

Wow, yeah. Definitely report the no gloves, and that needle wiggling story made me throw up a little in my mouth - report her too. Report report report.

[AccountingDrone]

not to mention that there should be some blood in the tubing *before* they pop the tube on to create the vacuum to suck the blood better.

I really wish we could clone my favorite phlebotomist, she works at a vet's office on weekends. Apparently working on cats is great training for finding microscopic veins.

[Treasure]

OMG that is SOOOO Not OK!! REPORT them BOTH as fast as you can! ugh that made my arm hurt just reading it - SO Unacceptable!

[Dasota]

Please report them both! I have Hep C and had a similar experience at a Planned Parenthood place when I was getting a yearly test done. The lady had longish fake nails on and was getting me all prepped up to draw the blood, when I asked her about the gloves, she said she's be fine. I told her I had Hep C and she still wanted to shrug it off. I Got up out of the chair with the rubber thing still wrapped around my arm and told one of the other ladies at the front desk. They were not amused. Next lady had gloves on.

[Cookie]

Yeah, I'm going to report. Been looking all over their site for a place to do so and no luck. Might have to call the general number on Monday and hope they put me through to someone who is in charge.

[Sapphire Silk]

not to mention that there should be some blood in the tubing *before* they pop the tube on to create the vacuum to suck the blood better.

Depends on what device you are using. That only works if you are using a butterfly needle. There's a short tube that connects to the vaccutainer. If the vaccutainer is connected directly to the needle, or if the phlebotomist is using a syringe, then you have to go by feel.

Please report them both! I have Hep C and had a similar experience at a Planned Parenthood place when I was getting a yearly test done. The lady had longish fake nails on and was getting me all prepped up to draw the blood, when I asked her about the gloves, she said she's be fine. I told her I had Hep C and she still wanted to shrug it off. I Got up out of the chair with the rubber thing still wrapped around my arm and told one of the other ladies at the front desk. They were not amused. Next lady had gloves on.

Good. Glad you didn't let her proceed.

Fake nails are verboten in health care. They transmit fungal infections.

Yeah, I'm going to report. Been looking all over their site for a place to do so and no luck. Might have to call the general number on Monday and hope they put me through to someone who is in charge.

Keep trying. Problem won't get fixed if people don't complain

[thehuckster]

Someone did that wiggling motion on me, only it did hit a vein, but proceeded just to "splatter" blood into the tube.

At that point, between not liking needles in the first place, a guy behind me panicking over the bloodwork being done on him, and the feeling of a needle moving around my arm like that made me feel faint. The nurse immediately noticed something was wrong, handed me an icepack and gave me a place to lie down. I nearly fainted.

God, I hate needles.

[Sapphire Silk]

Yeah, unfortunately, we do sometimes have to hunt around a bit to hit the vein.

With some people, the vein is just hard to find. This can be because of dehydration or anatomy. Other people, the vein "rolls" and is hard to stabilize; in spite of how sharp the needle is, the vein will simply get pushed away and not be pierced by the bevel of the needle.

If the blood just splatters, sometimes that's due to poor vaccuum in the tube, or because the tip of the needle isn't all the way in the vein, or the patient has some condition where blood loss has occurred.

Usually, if I can't find the vein quickly, I'll stop and try again because hunting does hurt. Some people hunt too long, unfortunately.

[Andara Bledin]

I honestly think they should pass out handwarmers to people waiting to have blood drawn, just to get things flowing.

I'm fortunate that I have friendly veins that don't hide, don't roll, and things flow rather quickly. I'm usually done with donations much more quickly than the rest of the people around me. Like around half the time in some cases.

^-.-^

[macphile]

I'm one of those weirdoes who actually likes getting blood drawn, LOL. Well, not the stick, but the rest. I'm usually easy to get blood out of, but one time, the woman went right through it and out the other end, and her colleague came over and explained it using her fingers to represent the vein and the needle. It was cute.

[kpzra]

Ugh, IV practice was the worse part of paramedic school. Some of us did get good at starting them on ourselves. I've had my share of a huntin' we will go people.

[ShinyObject]

My aunt is an ER nurse and had a junkie she couldn't get blood out of. He was a walking turnip (his words.) After she unsuccessfully tried several times he got tired of being poked and gently took the syringe away from her. Before she could do anything sensible, he whipped it out and calmly proceeded to do a draw from a vein in his penis! I would have killed to have seen the look on her face.

[Sapphire Silk]

My aunt is an ER nurse and had a junkie she couldn't get blood out of. He was a walking turnip (his words.) After she unsuccessfully tried several times he got tired of being poked and gently took the syringe away from her. Before she could do anything sensible, he whipped it out and calmly proceeded to do a draw from a vein in his penis! I would have killed to have seen the look on her face.

OK, now I've heard everything.