At my HH job I was sent out to draw a lab on this woman who has a portacath. I told the boss I've never drawn blood from a portacath and she gives me this instruction sheet and tells me it's easier than drawing from a PICC line.
So today I go out to this lady's house. She is really heavy and when I feel for her portacath it feels like it is about two inches below the skin. She says it is sore and I back off from this option because I am not comfortable with it.
So I drive to the hospital lab and come back with some butterfly needles and a tourniquet. She has no veins to speak of, but I make a sad attempt to hit what I hoped was a vein (the only place on her arm that felt elastic at all).
She winces in pain even though I am as gentle as I can be (she has metastatic bone cancer so no doubt she is in tremendous pain), so after one stick I tell her I won't subject her to any more and I will get a more experienced nurse to come out and see what they can do (there was an LPN staying with her but I couldn't get her off the couch to help me).
I call one of the nurses who told me he would help with anything I needed. He made some kind of excuse but said he would get it done in the morning and that was the last time I could get ahold of him (I know he won't do it, he can't do it because I never go the chance to tell him this woman's name ) So, I talked to the boss, basically she said to have her drink plenty of fluids and use warm compresses to get the veins to come to the surface and I had better get the blood tomorrow, or else.:gandalf:
Now I have been stressed out and worried because I am not the best at drawing blood and it is lucky for me to get it with good veins. I feel like I want to go sit in the corner and count my own fingers or suck my thumb. The stress with this job lately has been about to run me around the bend.
Does anyone have any other advice they can offer about how to get this done? I know I should have more experience/better orientation and it would be noble for me to refuse to take the case and find another job but this is not what is going to happen. For one thing, I had a hard enough time finding a job and I have too many bills to just up and quit.