Taking blood

Yesterday = Spamalot day, what a laugh!
Tomorrow = Results day. Nuff said.
Soon = pictures and highlights of my 2 week gallivant.




Other news:
(geeky Med talk ahead...)

We were brought back 1 week early from holidays for an "advanced clinical practice" course, which has been somewhat interesting, largely thanks to the Clinical Skills lecturer in charge of the course, Dr S. Today he was talking about blood collection, which seems to be his pet topic, because he brought a large sleek plastic case which held all his new-fangled apparatus for taking blood.


Now, he (and generally everyone here) has been pushing for increased use of the Vaccutainer system (see above) for taking blood, but the No. 1 reason why many medical students and even doctors prefer the traditional method of needle and syringe (and increasing the likelihood of needlestick injuries and the like) is because of FLASHBACK. That little bit of blood which flows into the needle as you hit the jackpot of a vein is my favourite friend when taking blood, because without it I'd be reluctant to even try drawing blood into the syringe.

He, he says, has the perfect solution to that. And under the magnifying projector he unsheaths...



... a Vacutainer needle with a flashback compartment! The whole lecture theatre oohs and aahs in delight.

Not only that, he shows us this tiny butterfly needle with a curious black triangle near the needle.


Now, butterfly needles are great for taking blood because:

1. they've got a cute name
2. they're smaller than normal syringe needles, so can hit difficult small veins
3. they can be used with Vacutainer tube holders, and even gives you flashback, so no blind stabbing
4. they have a short length of tubing between the needle and the syringe/tube holder, so your hands can shake as much as they have to without dislodging the needle from the vein
   

But this butterfly needle surpasses all that: the black triangle is a button which, when pushed after taking blood, retracts needle into the plastic sheath in a flash, thus eliminating any chance of needlestick injury. Imagine that!

(I told you, geeky Med talk.)

Unfortunately, all the above are not stocked in UK wards yet, so we're stuck with either "blind" stabbing with non-flashback Vacutainer systems, or risking sticking our fingers with needles in the traditional approach, all with non-spring-loaded needles that retract like a James Bond accessory (apparently the US uses them, so if you want to see them in action, go get your blood taken in a US hospital).