license to vamp…

Actually, this is not a license. It is a medical assistance certification that may or may not have any value. In any case, I just finished a phlebotomy class and got a lot of practice performing and receiving blood draws.

As a person who has participated in more than forty clinical trials requiring blood draws, I have a good sense of what it is like to meet someone, have them explain why they need blood and what they intend to do with it, and call in someone to do the pull. I have had a lot of people bleed me well and a lot of people do an absolutely horrible job with the blood draw. I enjoyed this class, and I learned a lot from it, but now that I realize that classes of this sort are sometimes all that is between a person with no experience and a person jabbing needles into victims, I understand why I have had bad experiences in the past.

I, as a person who has received hundreds of blood draws, would like to state how I will be performing blood draws when I need to do this.

When I put a needle into anyone, if I do not immediately find a vein I might go slightly deeper or pull slightly out, but I know not to go left or right. It hurts the recipient and is not a consistently good method for finding a vein.

I will anchor veins so that they do not move. Some plebotomists try to minimize touching their clients, but if a person firmly grasps a persons limb with one hand while putting pressure on the vein, then when the other hand delivers the needle the vein will be less likely to displace rather than be punctured.

I will not put tape on any hairy body part without informing the clients that it could be annoying. The tape aggravates an already punctured area, and I hated it when people stuck it to me without my permission. When was to take IV drips for long periods of time, I was grateful to be warned to shave my hand or forearm and on short notice, was happen even to shave in the hospital rather than have my hair plucked slowly throughout the day by the tape.

3M makes a product called Coban which is a self-adhesive wrap. It sticks only to itself but not to anything else, so it is ideal for looping around a limb without sticking to it. It is relatively expensive but within the budget of anyone who needs a blood draw. I hope never to work for an employer who cared so little about clients as to not offer this product or some similar non-sticky bandage.