PT with INR Disaster

I was sent out to get a PT with INR on a patient whose previous level was way off (blood was like syrup coming out). So the doctor put her on 9 mg coumadin for 3 days then 5 mg daily after that.

So the woman is hard to stick, anyway. I start with a 23 gauge butterfly needle and she has some veins on her hand and I attempt to use those, but her veins are tough and you can literally see them roll as you try to push in them, but I get a return but it is very slow to come out and the vein blows. After that, I finally find a vein on the arm and using a 21 gauge I get return from that but the blood comes so slow and halfway down the tube it just stops. To the private duty nurse and me it looks like her blood is so thick it won't do anything. The nurse tells me she isn't suprised because the patient will hardly bleed enough to get a blood sample for the glucose monitor.

So I call the nurse at the doctor's office and explain what happened. She was very rude and said "I don't believe that!"
Then I told her the patient had an issue with this before and the doctor put her on 9 mg's coumadin for 3 days and then 5 mg daily. She said she didn't believe that, either. I told her I had the order in front of me and she put it on hold. Then she comes back and says to bring her in the office and they will do it there.

The nurse takes her to the doc's office. I call the residence about 15 minutes ago to see what happened, and the nurse tells me, well, they weren't very happy with us. They didn't draw her blood but they did a finger stick with this big lancet and got her PT that way but I don't think they got an INR, but her PT was 2.2 and they left her on 5 mg's of coumadin.

I did not know they could check her PT with a finger stick. Anytime I have brought that blue topped tube to a lab they said it is very important I fill it to the top.

Someone please explain what happened. What's this fingerstick deal? I feel like a real idiot. Why do blood draws for PT in the first place if all it takes is a fingerstick?