Venipuncture Essay

760 Words4 Pages
Venipuncture is the act of drawing blood for testing and is performed by a phlebotomist. The results from this process allow doctors to diagnose patients. It also allows for DNA matches for criminal cases and missing person alerts. The patient will be set up in a sterile room with a place to sit before the process begins. In the room with him is a tray which contains a tourniquet, gloves, medical tape, sterile gauze, alcohol preparation pad, vacuum tube(s) with label(s), and a sterile needle with a needle holder. The phlebotomist will go through the steps of confirmation, preparation, collection, and clean-up in this life saving process. First thing the phlebotomist does when she walks in the room is make sure the patient is the correct person by either checking the chart or identification. This precaution is set in place because of prior cases of fraud. If someone has substances in his system that he cannot legally account for then he tries to have someone give blood in his place. Also reading the chart allows the…show more content…
The she will carefully place cap back on the needle and the needle and place it in a sharp container to later be disposed of properly. She throws all remaining items away as regular trash. The phlebotomist will then re-sterilize the area and prepare for the next patient. The last thing she does is thank the patient for his/her cooperation during the venipuncture. Venipuncture is a serious procedure that is performed often and is usually underrated. Lives are saved in multiple ways through this process of venipuncture in the steps of confirmation, proper preparation, collection, and clean-up. Venipuncture is performed in order to understand what is in the blood stream. These are the steps you should prepare and watch for when you or someone you know goes through venipuncture. It could save your life. Also these are the steps you will follow if you become a phlebotomist. You could be saving lives in the
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