1. Does it hurt?
Well it doesn't tickle. But its only a split second pinch, then it shouldn't hurt.
2. How long should I keep the Coban(band aid) on?
Just long enough for the blood to clot. In general this isn't more than a few minutes. But we are talking about healthcare so there is always an exception. (Also, I think most people like some of the attention they get from walking around with a brightly colored piece of Coban wrapped around their arm, and that's fine, we all do it.)
3. Jeeezze that is a lot of blood! Why do you need so much?
First of all, *I* don't need any blood from you, your doctor wants the tests done.
Having said that, lets put this into perspective. The average adult has 10-12 pints (5214 mL) of blood. When you donate blood they only take 1 pint (474 mL). Now, the tubes we use here at the hospital average anywhere from 3 mL -8 mL each. The most tubes I've ever seen drawn on a single person is around 15. Even if we used the biggest tubes we have for all of that, you would only have taken 120 mL and still wouldn't even be close to the 1 pint (474 mL) they take from you when you donate blood.
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| The average adult body contains 5 liters of blood. (2 and a half of these) |
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| 1 Unit/ 1 pint/474 mL of blood |
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| 6-8 mLs of blood |
4. Why do you need so many different colored tubes?
This completely depends on what tests your doctor has ordered. Certain tests require different forms of blood to run the test. Each color tube has a different additive in it. For example a lavender tube will prevent the blood from clotting. Gold tubes have a clot activator and gel inside so the serum can be separated from the rest of the blood. Green tubes do the same thing only they separate plasma. (Serum is just plasma without fibrinogen and other clotting factors.)
5. How long have you done this?
I'm always torn with this question. I understand wanting someone who has "done this for years" and "hasn't missed in months." But at the same time what if you do have a new person? How else are they going to learn? I usually just say "nope, never done this before, just had a nurse show me how on an orange."
6. Don't miss...
Probably my least favorite comment to hear from a patient. Seriously? How is this helpful? It does nothing but irritate and put pressure on me. I'd love to just hand the needle to the patient after they say that and tell them good luck.
7. Why does it take so long to get results back?
The first thing is, most healthcare workers understand that you are very anxious to get results back. We know its your health that were talking about. But please understand you are not the only patient getting blood work done today or even in the last 2 minutes. Yes, even though you can't see them in the lab right now with you. Also, contrary to what many people think, lab techs are not just "monkeys that push buttons." Running a test takes more than a couple minutes. (unless you're capable of changing science itself?) On an average day (that I've seen), most tests (best case scenario) from start to finish that we are able to run in the lab at the hospital take no less than an hour or two. (some take days to run, Bacteria has to grow, etc.). Many tests have to be sent to a special lab that runs more unique tests. In that case, you're looking at about a week. (depending on how far away this other lab is, how long the test takes to run, and how often they run said test.)
The techs running your tests cannot change science. Sorry.
Also, a few other random things about Phlebotomy:
Your Phlebotomist should never say, "do you mind if I don't use a glove (or rip off the finger of the glove) so I can feel the vein better?" Feeling a vein before you put gloves on is one thing, but if they have cleaned the site are actually drawing your blood, they should be wearing gloves. Not wearing gloves when doing a blood draw is a huge no, no according to OSHA, TJC, WHO, and CDC. Its also not smart of the Phlebotomist. You really don't know what the patient may have.
Drawing Children:
Generally a child comes into the lab and is okay until they have to sit in the draw chair, or until we put gloves on. (that seems to scare everyone) Then we try to explain the process to the child (depending on how old they are) and proceed to try and have the parents hold the child still enough so we can get the blood. All to often we end up spending so much time trying to talk the child into it (meanwhile they are bawling, hugging their arms tightly and telling the parent they will do anything to not have their blood drawn) we could have been done and taken care of 8 other patients in the time we've spend reasoning with this one child.
Parents. We don't like drawing from your children anymore than they like getting their blood drawn. Honestly. (a hard draw with tiny veins, kicking, screaming, thrashing....umm... no thanks.) That being said, it has to be done, and don't you think that 60 seconds of "traumatizing" your child is better than 30 minutes of "traumatizing" and trying to reason with them talking about how "if you hold still, we will go get (insert bribe here) when you are done." All the while, the child is still scared to death sitting there anticipating the worst.
To summarize, we don't mind trying to reason with the child for a minute or so, its understandable. But after a few minutes, its time to just get it over with.
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