Rookie Nurse

I have rolling veins. I am an IV insertion nightmare so I try to be understanding. Due to monthly testing to manage my kidney disease, I get lots of blood drawn. The funny part is the good people always nail it with one shot and I typically don't feel it. I have had the rookies that have stormtrooper aim and spend time fishing around looking for a vein and it's no fun.
 
I would have bailed out. I can’t do needles. Last time I had blood taken I had to have my ex-wife come hold my hand and I’m not even joking, nor do I give a shit how unmanly that makes me. I get so weak in the knees I can barely stand. It’s not even the sight of blood or anything, it’s the damn needle piercing my skin and entering a vein that freaks me the f out.
 
One of my college room mates was premed. He got a job as a phlebotomist since he knew it would look good on his Med school applications. Before he started he used to practice on oranges because it was supposed to be similar to stabbing the needle into human flesh in terms of resistance, etc.

Oranges? As if getting the needle in is the issue. Just hit a freakin vein already! They never have a problem sticking it in again. But almost always have a problem with the multiple "swing and a miss". For guitar I used to always tell them to do my right arm. But then I had one nurse tell me my veins are deeper in my right arm. Now I make them do my left arm and they seem to have better luck on that side now. So I guess the good ones can take one look and know which arm to go after.

It will all be robots soon enough for that kind of stuff. Seems like an infra red sensor would make it easy to find the vein every time. Medical robots are getting good at even remote surgeries as long as there is a Doc controlling them. We live in "science fiction becoming fact" times now.

There are even some really smart people that have figured out how to shrink a warehouse full of tube amps into this tiny little device ...
 
I had shoulder surgery recently. They gave me a nerve block. They had an ultrasound so they could see where to aim the needle. It was actually kind of fascinating because the screen was right in front of me.
 
skolacki said:
I had shoulder surgery recently. They gave me a nerve block. They had an ultrasound so they could see where to aim the needle. It was actually kind of fascinating because the screen was right in front of me.
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See that's what I'm talkin bout - a robot with ultrasound vision perfect! That would always be better than someone like my often hung over college room mate digging in your arm. But he is an accomplished Pediatrician now.
 
Rex Rox said:
See that's what I'm talkin bout - a robot with ultrasound vision perfect! That would always be better than someone like my often hung over college room mate digging in your arm. But he is an accomplished Pediatrician now.
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Just remember that 50% of doctors finished in the lower half of their graduating class. 😮

What do you call the guy that finished last?

Doctor

Mood Monday GIF by Demic
 
I had my gallbladder removed early March, emergency surgery. Multiple IV attempts by newbies. Well, dr was doing procedure by robot and this required one IV in each arm. The nurse missed miserably and hit a nerve. I told her to leave and she did. Come to find out that this particular robot did not require two IV’s. Fucktards
 
RevDrucifer said:
I would have bailed out. I can’t do needles. Last time I had blood taken I had to have my ex-wife come hold my hand and I’m not even joking, nor do I give a shit how unmanly that makes me. I get so weak in the knees I can barely stand. It’s not even the sight of blood or anything, it’s the damn needle piercing my skin and entering a vein that freaks me the f out.
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That sounds all too familiar. I don't freak out at all, but I do (sometimes) pass out. Might not be the same, but in my case, my doctor explained many years ago that it is vasovagal syncope. As per Google: Vasovagal syncope occurs when a vagus nerve to your heart overreacts to certain situations like extreme heat, anxiety, hunger, pain or stress. Blood pressure drops very quickly (orthostatic hypotension), making you feel dizzy or faint.
 
∞Fractals said:
Just remember that 50% of doctors finished in the lower half of their graduating class. 😮

What do you call the guy that finished last?

Doctor

Mood Monday GIF by Demic
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:tearsofjoy:
I had to help my room mate with math constantly or he probably wouldn't even have graduated his undergrad biology degree!

So hopefully it doesn't take much math to be a Pediatrician!
 
SOOO frustrating!! Had it happen a couple of times; once with an IV another, with an arterial blood draw at the wrist. Our son was with me during the IV situation, he was working in assisted living and had a nursing certificate. The guy pretending to be a nurse missed 3 times at which point my son told him to get out of the way and he would do it. Of course that couldn't happen and on the fourth try the nurse got the vein. Wonder if the fact that our son is 6'5" and not exactly the most patient person had anything to do with the extra focus.

On the arterial draw the nurse missed twice, one of the most painful experiences BTW, before the anesthesiologist stepped in.
 
Gtrsolo350 said:
My wife is a nurse and says some have the gift and others simply do not, no matter how often they practice. The ones that don’t have the gift of starting IV’s probably shouldn’t be working in pre-op where they’ll be starting IV’s all day though. They should be school nurses lol.
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Yup, have had my blood pulled a lot over the years to run precision on an analyzer -Hematology.
The worst I experienced was at our training facility in Irving TX.
I could feel the needle digging on my ligament. Others in our class were horrified by the experience. So I named the person taking our blood "the butcher of Las Colinas".
 
walnutzz said:
That sounds all too familiar. I don't freak out at all, but I do (sometimes) pass out. Might not be the same, but in my case, my doctor explained many years ago that it is vasovagal syncope. As per Google: Vasovagal syncope occurs when a vagus nerve to your heart overreacts to certain situations like extreme heat, anxiety, hunger, pain or stress. Blood pressure drops very quickly (orthostatic hypotension), making you feel dizzy or faint.
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My brother in law is an ex-marine and a cop. He has this same condition. In his case it is very specific. I am sure he experiences anxiety and stress daily in his job (and had plenty in basic training). But when he goes in for a blood draw he passes out. He can't even watch someone else getting their blood drawn without feeling queasy. But accident scenes are no problem? Crazy!
 
I'm like that a bit too. I can tolerate other people's blood and needles don't really bother me, but I don't like seeing my own blood, like if I cut myself accidentally. I can get pretty queasy.
 
RevDrucifer said:
I would have bailed out. I can’t do needles. Last time I had blood taken I had to have my ex-wife come hold my hand and I’m not even joking, nor do I give a shit how unmanly that makes me. I get so weak in the knees I can barely stand. It’s not even the sight of blood or anything, it’s the damn needle piercing my skin and entering a vein that freaks me the f out.
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hellraiser-pinhead-1633688069.jpg
 
FractalAudio said:
Three times she tried to get the IV in my arm and failed miserably each time.
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This happened to my wife before a major surgery. She was already anxious about the surgery itself and this put her over the edge.

I hope you at least called her a “Chucklehead.” 😂
 
FractalAudio said:
Had my decennial colonoscopy yesterday. They assigned me a nurse who was obviously a new hire. She's lucky she doesn't have a black eye now.

Three times she tried to get the IV in my arm and failed miserably each time. Finally the anesthesiologist took over and did it first try.
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BRUTAL !

I've been treating for high cholesterol for almost 45 years now .... And in the beginning I dreaded getting blood work done ! I once had a nurse digging around in my arm after inserting the needle to try and find a vein .... Finally the Dr. had to come in and do it ....

That said ..., these days the "sharps" are typically SO much better ..., but it does all comes down to the experience of the phlebotomist or nurse, etc;
 
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