This will probably sound really dumb but I have a question

sgonzalez1203 · Mar 6, 2009

Congrats to starting Nursing School in August! In my school, we start IVs and give all kinds of injections, but as far as drawing blood?....There has been no mention of it. Usually a phlebotomist does that in the hospital setting. I see them in the hallways running from room-to-room, etc. Good luck to you! And no question is a dumb question! Esp. in NS...better to ask & know.

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Mar 6, 2009

Thanks for answering. I know in the past I have had tons of nurses draw my blood. I have also been sent to Lab to have it done or a Phlebotomist called into do it. My mom is a CMA and she was taught how to do it so I wasn't sure. Maybe I will do a Phlebotomy class also so I can be more universal. I would think ti would be good for nurses to learn that just in case there was an emergency and a phlebotomist wasn't on hand.

jjjoy, LPN · Mar 6, 2009

At my school, we were not taught blood draws. We practiced IV insertions on fake arms but were explicitly prohibited from performing this task on patients as students. I think the reason given us was liability concerns, but I don't know for sure.

The school assured us that employers wouldn't mind and we'd easily pick it up on the job. That's a fair argument if it's just one of a few skills a newbie hasn't mastered. But it seems to me that many nursing students now graduate having had only the minimum chance to practice MANY skills and so have A LOT to learn on the job, not just a couple of things.

So if you want to get as much hands-on practice as a student as possible, be sure to thoroughly research the various nursing programs available to you. Ask working nurses their impression of the skills of students and graduates of local programs. Whether or not the school is private or public, the program ASN or BSN or whatever doesn't necessarily mean that their program is better or worse than another. You really have to evaluate each school on its own merits.

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Mar 6, 2009

Thank You, I have heard tons of good things about my school. Only bad I heard was their first year, which is understandable. Since then I have talked to a lot of nurses that went to it and heard a lot of good things and after finally getting my acceptance after being on the waitlist for 3 years I will be staying put. Best of all it's only a 10 minute drive from my house.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Mar 6, 2009

we were taught the techniques and procedure of starting ivs when i was in nursing school years ago, but the state law prohibited us from actually starting an iv until we were licensed. blood drawing was never mentioned. in all my rn jobs blood drawing was never brought up until we had patient's with central iv lines and picc lines and doctors would write orders for the rns to draw the blood for their labwork from these iv lines--an rn must do this. once you learn the technique and procedure of starting ivs you will realize that drawing blood is really just an offshoot of this. what needs to be known about collection of blood specimen for the lab is what tubes to put the blood into and what size needles work the best. small needles will cause the blood to hemolyze making it useless for the lab technicians to perform the tests on. if you label a tube incorrectly one time you will not do it again. when i worked as an iv therapist and i was starting ivs in the early morning i would check to see if the patient i was going to work with needed labwork done. i carried blood collection tubes with me. i would insert the iv needle, draw off blood into any required collection tubes that the lab would need, hook up the iv and then label and send off the tubes of blood to the lab so the patient would only need to be stuck once that morning. our rn license gives us the right to draw blood, but many rns do not do it because there is often phlebotomists doing this job. most of us are never given any formal training in it either. however, as i said, if you can start an iv, you can draw blood.