hematomas? drawing blood on elderly clients

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hi i was wondering what are ways to make it easier to draw blood on elderly clients? more likely than ever clients seem to keep getting hematomas. am i doing something wrong or is this just common for the elderly? what are your experiences and how do i fix this problem????? what am i doing wrong? help!

Specializes in geriatrics.

so if i see only a few drops of blood that means i have to insert deeper by just a little more in the same angle till i see a gush of blood? and if i see a gush of blood i stabilize the needle and push in the tube into vacutainer/?

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Specializes in geriatrics.

also... i thought we remove the turniquout just before we are almost done with all the draws? even for all/most of the elderly? does this cause collapsed vein too? i also wonder why after the first tube of blood... no more comes out? is this like a handling the needle stability problem too?

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Specializes in Cardiology, Research, Family Practice.

How does one know they are in the vein when using just a straight needle attached to the vacutainer hub (not like the IV catheter w/ the retractable needle)? I can feel the pop sometimes, but not consistently. I always rely on the flash of blood. But with the straight needle, you don't see a flash, right? For some of the trials we do, the lab kits provided contain these plain needles, and I never use them, but one of the MA's does, and she says (kind of smugly) "I guess it's about your technique "

I feel so inferior, lol!

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