Flu madness

[Ellain]

Because it is a compaint regarding a flu shot. They like to keep track of these things, for some reason.

[Soulstealer]

I have to remind myself of this daily (sometimes hourly) - I work CS for an insurance company.

OP - Do you have to report to the CDC because it was a report of an injury or because it was flu-shot related?

(oh, and for those who bruise esp. for blood draws - I do too, but the nurse that takes my blood now uses the butterfly needles for use on children and the bruise is barely noticable)

I prefer adult needles not because they're better but one time I got a horrid nurse that kept poking me trying to find a vein until I was so panicky they had to use the children's needle in my wrist instead.

[Tama]

This makes me suddenly glad that "I have good veins." I was having some blood drawn a few weeks ago and talked about how it had hurt (I'm sensitive ) and one of the two attending nurses said, "Well it would have hurt more, but you have good veins!"

Me: Huh?
Her: See, look at my arm and your arm, the vein is visible on both. That's what we in the business call "good veins." Easy to draw from, hurts much less.
Nurse2: I have bad veins. (You couldn't see any in her arm)

They were pretty nice gals.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Mine roll all over the damn place.

I had a gang of nurses stick me five times trying to get some blood. I'm pretty laid back about that sort of thing, but even I got irritated about that one. I was all like, look here, you don't freaking want to stick me again. You can't do it, fine, but we're done practicing.

They got this one woman in there who used to work in a morgue. She came in and said, and I quote "Let me do it, I can get blood out of a stiff."

She did, too. First try.

[auntiem]

Because it is a compaint regarding a flu shot. They like to keep track of these things, for some reason.

got it - good to know.


For the "bad stick" people - which is what "they" call us - and in fact I tell my providers that I'm a "bad stick" before they start and that is why they get the butterfly needle. FYI - I was told long ago by a health professional that if they try more than 3 times to take a sample to ask for another person - even the best nurse on the planet gets flustered after the third failed attempt. I was told this is what they were told in training - a nurse will have to confim this info though.

[ExRetailDrone]

Ugh, all these bad needle stories make me cringe. I feel very lucky that I, too, have "good veins". I used to donate plasma for a couple of years, and only had a couple of not-so-great experiences. But the phlebotomists were always able to find my vein on the first try, although I did have one guy that didn't do a very good job. He might have went through the vein (or something, I'm not sure as I'm not trained in any capacity in the medical field), and after a little bit I had this huge bubble where the needle was. Needless to say, they unhooked me, watched me for 15 minutes to make sure everything was ok and gave me water, and then sent me on my way.

[BlaqueKatt]

even the best nurse on the planet gets flustered after the third failed attempt. I was told this is what they were told in training - a nurse will have to confim this info though.

I'd believe it, especially one of my nurses after my tonsillectomy...after the second stick-she was crying because I was in horrible pain and dehydrated, my mom got the "head nurse" she tried three times and ended up almost in tears...they ended up calling someone out of PICU.

[Shalom]

I read a story once -- memory's not the greatest, but I think it was in "The Making Of A Surgeon" by William Nolen MD (first published as by Anonymous -- first time I'd ever seen an anonymous autobiography!) where he was interning in Bellevue back in the fifties, and they had one elderly patient who they just couldn't get a vein on. Finally the doc told the nurses that they had an "expert" in house who could do the blood draw for them . . . then he went up to the mental ward and "borrowed" a certain heroin addict of his acquaintance, who was in there for one of his periodic detoxes. Put a white coat and long gloves on him and told him he'd just become a phlebotomist. This guy did the blood draw with no problem at all -- after shooting smack for as long as he had, he could find veins anywhere on anyone. Can you imagine the same thing happening today...