drawing blood

[stephera]

I would like to hear a few of your experiences with learning to draw blood. I think that this will be the hardest part for me.

[SarasotaRN2b]

I'm doing the phlebotomy for two reasons. One to get a little bit more training so that I can feel comfortable and the other reason is that if some reason I can't start the nursing program until next spring, I can still work in the hospital I would like to work in. It is a great opportunity to go throughout the hospital and work in the different departments. I believe, that you can get a sense of the climate in a particular department (you know, where you can just feel that it would be either a great place to work or not). Plus, there is always the financial perks.

[Antikigirl, ASN, RN]

Pheb classes are great and I would advise it too. I learned my skills actually doing ride alongs with paramedics. They were so helpful, taught me many tricks, and were less stressful than taking it in class...

I also learned some things by watching my Respiratory Technitions in clinicals...ours did most of the blood draws and all ABG's...and seemed to generally love teaching what they do!

Later I was in a clinical where they had IV nurses, and I followed them for a time, but I didn't learn 1/4 of what I learned from paramedics or RT's! I don't know why..they tended to be more...just be the wall and watch what I do vs the others who made it more interactive (I learn better that way). Not saying all IV nurses would be that way...I just had the luck of shadowing those ones..LOL!

Now, I haven't had to do a blood draw or IV in ohhhhhh...4 years! (OMG it has been that long...wow!) So I plan on having a little inservice at my home with my hubby (paramedic) and his buds to re-teach me (they were the ones that did in the first place) and I will have it down pat in short time! I can also take a refresher course at my local college (we have an IV/Blood draw Nursing refresher class at my local CC), but I may not want to pay 300 bucks to learn something I can learn with a nice spagetti dinner, homemade cookies and a 6-pack of Hefferweisen in my home..LOL!!!!! (6-pack after lesson..LOL!!!!!!!).