Cook23

Thank you everybody for your answers ! When I realized I wasn't sure about the clamps I went back to check the patient and I found a nurse. She told me the patient was fine and the central line was removed amd she was sent home. She was alright so nothing happened eventually ! I remembered what I did and I remembet putting the cap and clamping the single lumen and turning the stopcock in a way that it was blocking the other lumen which was also capped. My question was if the caps are not enough and the lumens need to be clamped also. I know they always must be but I was wondering what the chances of an air embolism to occur would be if only the caps were on blocking the opening of the lumen ?

Hi ! Today I was sent to draw blood from a patient who had a central venous line. The line was double lumen and both of the lumens had nothing connected to them. One of them had a stopcock and the other was just capped. I tried to draw blood from the one without a stopcock but I wasn't successful. So I went for the lumen which had the stopcock on. I drew the blood and then I flushed the saline but I just can't remember if I clamped the lumens afterwards. I definitely capped the first lumen and I remember turning the stopcock of the other one in a way that the capped site was blocked. I heard that if you don't clamp the lumens there is a chance of air embolism even if the caps are on. Is this possible and how ? How long would it take for the air embolism to happen ? About 4 hours after the blood draw I passed again from the patient's room and she looked ok. I hadn't realized that I wasn't sure about the clamps so I didn't check them then. Would it take longer than that for the air embolism to happen ? How often do the floor nurses check the patients and do they check the lines too ? I'm sorry if I'm asking too many questions but I'm freaking out a bit since this happened.

Thank you all so much for your answers, they really helped me a lot !

Same thing for stopcocks, if a stopcock is blocking would there be any drops ?

Thank you all for your answers ! I too did not agree with their way of thinking I prefer to check everything that needs checking before assuming. So from what I realize if it's dripping it means that the tubing is indeed working all the way to the vein or there is an abnormal opening to it. Does that mean that the dripping will stop if the tubing is somewhere clamped on its way to the needle ?

Hi ! I wanted to ask a question about iv fluids. If the fluid is dripping into the drip chamber and I can see the drops flowing from the bag into the chamber, does it mean the tubing is open all the way to the vein ? I was discussing it with my fellow students the other day and one of them told me that if I see the drops from the bag into the drip chamber I don't have to check the clamps to see if they are open or not. Is it true ? Is looking for drops in the drip chamber enough to know that the tubing is open all the way from the bag to the needle ?

Hello ! I decided to join the forum since I've read a lot of posts on this site that were helpful. I hope You help me with my problem as well since I'm extremely disappointed. I'm in nursing school and this is my final semester. We never had a formal teaching on phlebotomy, meaning it was never in our curriculum and no one ever bothered to teach us how to do it. Despite this however, in the clinic I practice this year, the medical workers send us to draw blood from the patients. I've tried around 10 times to draw blood up to now and even though I succeeded the first time I couldn't seem to complete the procedure afterwards. I also ''broke'' some of the veins I tried to puncture and I felt really disappointed and embarrassed. They made us use 20cc syringes from the very first time since there are no vacutainers or butterfly needles in our clinic. On top of it everyone else tells me how easy it is and how they manage to draw blood from every patient without much effort. Whenever I fail they look at me with a mocking look, making me feel dumb. I looked up videos and FAQs online about venipuncture and even though it seems easy, everytime I try again no blood comes in the syringe or I go through the vein and break it. I asked some people to help me but they all say they have other things to do and leave. Do you have any advise on how to deep to go and how I realize how deep the vein is ? I don't want to keep breaking veins and being mocked at. Do you believe I should have been better after 10 sticks ? After how many sticks should most people get good at venipuncture ?

Hello ! I decided to join the forum since I've read a lot of posts on this site that were helpful. I hope You help me with my problem as well since I'm extremely disappointed. I'm in nursing school and this is my final semester. We never had a formal teaching on phlebotomy, meaning it was never in our curriculum and no one ever bothered to teach us how to do it. Despite this however, in the clinic I practice this year, the medical workers send us to draw blood from the patients. I've tried around 10 times to draw blood up to now and even though I succeeded the first time I couldn't seem to complete the procedure afterwards. I also ''broke'' some of the veins I tried to puncture and I felt really disappointed and embarrassed. They made us use 20cc syringes from the very first time since there are no vacutainers or butterfly needles in our clinic. On top of it everyone else tells me how easy it is and how they manage to draw blood from every patient without much effort. Whenever I fail they look at me with a mocking look, making me feel dumb. I looked up videos and FAQs online about venipuncture and even though it seems easy, everytime I try again no blood comes in the syringe or I go through the vein and break it. I asked some people to help me but they all say they have other things to do and leave. Do you have any advise on how to deep to go and how I realize how deep the vein is ? I don't want to keep breaking veins and being mocked at. Do you believe I should have been better after 10 sticks ? After how many sticks should most people get good at venipuncture ?