Blood draw from IVs?

Hi ,
I can feel your frustation...Find (google) the articles provided below, they may be able to support your point with your manager.

1) Laboratory sampling: Does the process affect the Outcome?. by Kathleen Becan-mcbride. Journal of Intraveneous Nursing. May/June 1999. Volume 22-Issue 3. page 137

2) Blood Samples Drwan from IV Catheters Have Less Hemolysis When 5-ml( vs 10 ml) Collection Tubes are Used. By S. Cox and J. Dayes. Journal of Emergency Nursing. Volume 30-Issue 6, pages 529-530

Good Luck.

On a side note-
Many places seem to have a policy of allowing a draw on an initial stick, but not once the line has been used. What's the logic? Or better yet, what's the evidence behind disallowing a practice which is widespread in critical care? In the ICU we regularly draw from central lines that have been used with various drugs and fluids. The only difference I see is that those lines are in bigger veins, but that seems irelevant. In fact, the tubing is longer, and has been exposed to far more substances than the average ER line. It's a question of the proper amount of waste, which is either 1.5 or 2.5 times the priming volume.

Look at the ENA websight, there have been numerous articles over the past couple of years on the subject. From experience I will tell you it is a learning curve but one that is easily mastered with practice.
In our facility, we are allowed to draw blood from IV's, we also have CNAs trained in phlebotomy. I, as a standard of good practice and in the interest of patient comfort and satisfaction, ALWAYS draw blood from an IV start. (I hate to pay for the sale of the same real estate twice!) If the patient is febrile, I will also draw at least one blood culture. In most cases, thee blood is immediately sent to the lab to be spun down. Such practice definately increases TOT for lab results, increases patient satisfaction (one stick instead of many) and our docs love the forward, critical thinking!

I also have never been able to find the written support of this practice and also have rarely had a hemolyzed sample due to using a 10ml syringe and drawing slowly, even from a 22g IV cath.

Wow I am disappointed to see this policy go into place. When placing an IV in the ED, I routinely draw a rainbow for lab, and of course depending on s/s, cultures, lactic acid..., I noticed that p we began using these new vacutainers, which attached to the IV cath, there was an amazing relationship to 22g IV cath and hemolyzed blood. I started using a syringe for blood draws c my 22g and fixed that problem. I agree c Larry77, a little education goes far. And sometimes I think it is the lab!

Don't worry the patients will start complaining and all will go back to normal.

I rarely have hemolyisis. Most of the time I use a ten cc syringe instead of vacuutainer. I've also been known to pop the top off tubes and let blood trickle in when I have to use a 22 or 24.