Do you do venipunctures as a nurse?

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I have my BSN and have been out of school for a year and a half now. Since graduation, I have worked in the psychiatric field which I love! I recently started working for a home health agency doing visits for psych patients. During the orientation, I had to complete a skills lab. One of the skills I had to complete was drawing blood. I was never taught how to do this during nursing school and have never had to complete this task in either clinicals or on the job. My hospital has a phlebotomist come in for all the blood draws. Regardless, drawing blood is not that difficult of a task and I was able to get it right on the first try. What bothered me was the comment from the lady leading the skills lab saying how it was "scary" when I mentioned I had never done one before. This nurse is probably double my age, so nursing school is probably quite different from when she went. I was just wondering if any other recent grads did this during nursing school. I don't think my school taught it because 1) the majority of hospitals have their own lab people for blood draws and 2) if you can do an IV, a blood draw should be no problem. I was just a little offended by her comment and the possibility that she may have thought I was incompetent simply for never having done a venipuncture. In the end, it doesn't really matter because I was able to do it easily...but it just sparked my curiosity as to what other nurses have done. :)

I asked at work and apparently a student from the school that i graduated from did a finger stick without cleaning the finger first, got an incorrect reading and as a result the patient died from an overdose of insulin-this was three years ago and rather than liaising with the school and getting the diabetes nurse to do a teaching session with us so that we can do it correctly they decided to ban us from doing it outright.

Apparently male caths 'are more difficult and require more training due to the prostate'

As for the IV bits-well apparently its just 'policy' and if im honest most new grads dont get their IV training until they have been there 18-24 months. Its crazy.My hospital is odd, im newly qualifed and i can do next to nothing and it could be upto two years before i can manage my own workload.

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I am currently in a Medical Assisting program, we had the option to also take a phlebotomy certification, but I opted out b/c I was terrified of sticking my fellow classmates. I do well with the fake arm, but I still shake a lot from nervousness. I was looking on this site because I plan on starting Nursing School in the Spring, and I wondered if this would be a total roadblock for me being so nervous and all, it could have been the crappy teacher I had I don't really know, but is there any way to avoid drawing blood in the Nursing Field? I truly believed this would be a no-brainer for me, but my fears really took over, still working on it but gave up for now, possibly looking for another school for just phlebotomy or hope I get it in Nursing.

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.
I am currently in a Medical Assisting program, we had the option to also take a phlebotomy certification, but I opted out b/c I was terrified of sticking my fellow classmates. I do well with the fake arm, but I still shake a lot from nervousness. I was looking on this site because I plan on starting Nursing School in the Spring, and I wondered if this would be a total roadblock for me being so nervous and all, it could have been the crappy teacher I had I don't really know, but is there any way to avoid drawing blood in the Nursing Field? I truly believed this would be a no-brainer for me, but my fears really took over, still working on it but gave up for now, possibly looking for another school for just phlebotomy or hope I get it in Nursing.

I learned to draw blood after 16 years as a nurse. Horrible performance anxiety & shakiness at first, but it goes away with repatition. A couple hundred sticks later even the worst veins do not cause that kind of anxiety.

So just do it, the sooner you do the quicker that shakiness will depart! Otherwise it will be looming in the back of your mind. Any idiot can do it & so can you and I!:lol2::lol2::lol2::lol2::lol2::lol2:

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Specializes in Rehab, Med Surg, Home Care.

FWIW, I work med/surg at a major metro hosp. We have an IV team. Although the RN's start their own IV's in ER and critical care units, on the floors we are not supposed to unless given specific clearence.

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I am currently in a Medical Assisting program, we had the option to also take a phlebotomy certification, but I opted out b/c I was terrified of sticking my fellow classmates. I do well with the fake arm, but I still shake a lot from nervousness. I was looking on this site because I plan on starting Nursing School in the Spring, and I wondered if this would be a total roadblock for me being so nervous and all, it could have been the crappy teacher I had I don't really know, but is there any way to avoid drawing blood in the Nursing Field? I truly believed this would be a no-brainer for me, but my fears really took over, still working on it but gave up for now, possibly looking for another school for just phlebotomy or hope I get it in Nursing.

The medical assisting program that I went to made us do sticks on each other. If we didn't we failed so we were pincushions for three semesters. I shook like crazy my first time but you get close take a deep breath and stick. After the first one it isn't bad at all so if you just take the plunge it will get better. It was better for me doing it on classmates because I knew they understood how I was feeling and wouldn't get to mad if I missed.

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My first job as a nurse was in a level 1 trauma center where I worked as a PCT and nurse extern while I was in nursing school. Basic venipunctures were a "tech" job so I got very good at it before I was a nurse. I often drew my own labs even when an IV wasn't needed because I'd just rather get it done than wait for someone else.

In my current unit, nurses DO NOT do venipunctures or art sticks, which blows my mind. If the patient doesn't have an art line or an IV that draws, they insist that they are lab collect. Again, I would rather just draw them myself but I've only done it a handful of times, largely because I hate poking on the little babies. :(

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in the state of Maryland we (nursing students) are not allowed to do any type of venipunctures or IV push medications as we will be taught this once we are on the job. We are responsible for maintaining IV lines and medications when in clinics.

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.

Where I worked the first four years of my career, I never did a venipuncture because we had a phlebotomy team. I had to learn it a year ago when I started at a new facility. As you said, if you can start an IV, a blood draw should be easy. Where I work now, I do it daily.

I've never done an art stick in my life. They're generally not needed in OB.

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