Anxiety about blood draws

[sweetstrwbrry1]

Hello I am a second semester student nurse and I have also been a tech for a year. I just got a job at a hospital last week and I have started doing blood draws, a skill that I have not learned in school you but was taught at the hospital. Anyway, I have a lot of anxiety about doing these. I fear having to do them and am anxious that someone's going to say "need a blood draw in "this room"!" And it's my patient. I have done it about 6 times now with my preceptor watching. I am still anxious though. I think I am most anxious about getting stuck with a dirty needle. And it is only this type of needle, the butterfly. I don't think I would have a problem giving injections, just blood draws. Nothing else bothers me... Poop, pee, you name it... Except this. Does anyone have any advice for dealing with this?

[TU RN, DNP, CRNA]

Fear and confidence. Blood draws and IVs are all about fear and confidence; on both the part of the patient and the phlebotomist. The anatomy is easy enough to understand, and the actual skill is replicable with practice. Practice is the key with these.

As far as avoiding needle sticks. Be sure you approach the situation with confidence every time. Whether you're terrible at phlebotomy, like I was for a while, or skilled, always appear confident. Sun Tzu said: "If you are weak, appear strong."

Gauge your patients fear of being stuck and whether or not they might jump up or jerk. And by this I don't mean ask "are you afraid of needles?" Some people have no fear of needles. I always use good skin traction about 4-5 inches away from where I'm going to introduce the needle so if they jerk I can move my second hand away.

Once you've collected your samples, make sure you use a bulky amount of gauze to place on top of the needle and insertion site. Press firmly down on the gauze and butterfly wings with your second hand. At the same time with your dominant hand release the tourniquet then pull the butterfly tubing down away from the patient to initiate the needle safety lock function. Basically it pulls the needle out of the patient and into a hard plastic housing in one motion.

You'll be fine. Really. Just don't drink too much coffee beforehand cuz then you'll be nervous and bouncing on caffeine and YOU'LL be the one shaking.