View Single Post
  #8  
Old Sat Aug 31, 2013, 07:17 PM
Chirley Chirley is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Logan City Australia
Posts: 1,100
I've had times when the patient has had to go to radiology and have blood taken under ultrasound guidance but that was rare. Occasionally I would do an arterial puncture but I avoided that as much as I could.

Generally, there are ways and means of getting the veins to distend but some of them required the patient to be a hospitalised patient and I didn't deal with outpatients much at all.

A GTN patch or paste over the vein, GTN sublingual spray, ventolin nebulisers, waiting for the patient to just finish a physio session (that worked a treat, patients get a good workout). Then there is the tried and true blood pressure cuff method.....NOT TO BE USED WITHOUT MEDICAL APPROVAL..place the cuff on the upper arm, using a manual BP machine, inflate until it increases to above the systolic pressure (highest number), this cuts off the arterial blood supply to the arm (see why you need medical approval) leave the cuff inflated for at least 45-60 seconds, deflate the cuff entirely, wait a few seconds for the blood to flood back into the arm then inflate the cuff again to just above the diastolic pressure (lowest reading), this cuts off the venous return, effectively trapping the tide of blood in the lower arm and distending the veins. I repeat....THIS IS NOT ADVISABLE FOR SOME PEOPLE.

When I'm an inpatient the nurses try to take blood through my port but 90% of the time it just won't bleed and they send for a phlebotomist to take my blood from my arm but I have good ante cubital veins so its not a problem. In the collection centres within the hospital they can't take blood from a port anyway and neither can the private Pathology companies in the community.

My port has been playing up lately and it has an increased back pressure which sends the IV pump alarm going. It's also getting harder for the nurses to manually flush. I've had this port for 5 years now and I'm wondering if its near its end.

Chirley
Reply With Quote