Bloods draws

[layneorion]

Hello all, I am new to this website. I have read advice that was given to other nurses and found it to be very helpful, so I decided to join and post a question of my own as well. I am currently a nursing student and I just recently started working in the medical field. I have done 7 blood draws with only 3 of them successful. I am feeling very frustrated at this point. I am not sure if I am not choosing my sight correctly, I also am having problems feeling for the vein as well. If there is a website or a book that anyone can recommend, or even some good advice, I would greatly appreciate it.

[87RN]

Close your eyes and feel for veins in your arms or your friends and families. The vein will feel bouncy. Some veins are deep and some are close to the surface. Watch your angle at insertion. Look on YouTube or Google iv insertion/ phlebotomy tips. Make sure you set up all your supplies and get them ready so you don't have to open anything once you start. It takes time and practice. Take your time and look for a good vein, sometimes patients with difficult veins will tell you where is best. As you do more, you will get more confident and it will get easier. Watch other nurses or lab techs who are good and copy what they do. Keep trying :)

[Nonyvole, BSN, RN]

And keep on trying! This is a skill that looks amazingly easy when other people do it, but takes practice. A lot of practice. At clinicals, don't be afraid to say that you have the specific goal of practicing your blood draws, and IV starts, if you're up to those yet.

Ask the patient, as well. A decent chunk of the time, their dominant hand has veins that are slightly larger and easier to find, and they also know their own bodies and where they've been stuck before. I like to start by asking them where a good spot is/where they've had blood drawn from before, and if they shrug or tell me that they don't know, then I'll ask for their dominant hand and start looking there.

finally, know that even people who are "the best" at getting blood and starting IVs have days where they will sit down with half-a-dozen patients with ideal veins and miss every single one. It really does happen!

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

See if this helps a bit. http://arotraining.com/images/Documents/Venipuncture%20Module%201_Anatomy%20of%20the%20Arm%20and%20Vein%20Location.pdf

Please study the H and M configurations of the ACF so ou know where the nerves are and so you can avoid them. Please know what action to take if you do hit a nerve!

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

This one is good two: https://www.depts.ttu.edu/hess/_documents/mccomb/lab_safety/phlebotomy.pdf