Question

Melissa calls Mrs. Cara Miata into the room. Mrs. Miata is 88 and the physician has ordered a blood glucose test. Melissa begins to organize her supplies. She examines Mrs. Miata’s arms and decides that drawing from the hand would be best. Why do you think she made this decision? What supplies will she need to draw from the hand and what tubes will she need to collect the sample?

Answer 1

Mrs. Cara Miata is an elderly patient. So Melissa has to consider the ageing factors that would affect blood drawing process.

Melissa decides to draw blood from hand due to following reasons:

1. Thinning of dermal layers

2. Skeletal muscle mass loss which will not be able to hold the veins in place. So when the needle it inserted into the vein it may move.

3. Fragile tiny subsurface blood vessels

4. Risk of superficial bleeding

Supplies needed for drawing blood from hand are:

1. tourniquet that fastens instead of being tied

2. Needle : 22 gauge-1" or 25 gauge-IV

3. Collection tube of appropriate size, usually pediatric

4. For fingerstick procedure, sticks are needed