Plebotomy Class

[911paramedic]

So I am taking a phlebotomy course to earn money and avoid student loans for the rest of my schooling, which was CS but changed to nursing after starting the phlebotomy course and getting the medical bug again.

So after completing 20+ units last semester towards my CS degree I did a 180 and am now signed up for microbiology and the other required courses for nursing. (I got a few classes waived for my paramedic schooling and experience) Now, here's the catch...

Here we are in class practicing blood draws on each other, like we do at least once a week for eight hours. (Yes, we all look like junkies.) I drew some blood on a girl and when I finished, and was holding pressure on the gauze I looked at her (I was talking to her the whole draw and she was fine) and I could tell she was about to pass out. Years of seeing it as a paramedic really helped.

BTW, she was sitting in a chair with her arm on one of those hospital feeding tables, kind of like what it would be like if you went to the lab to get drawn.

So I asked the person next to me to take care of my sharps and they agreed. (Sharps are the needles, syringes, blood tubes, anything with blood.) An instructor who is an EMT came over and we carried her to one of the beds. (we train in a room that simulates a hospital) Put her head down and elevated her legs. I checked her radial pulse and it was a bit fast (100ish) but it was there, so her pressure was OK. The main instructor was yelling "give her orange juice, get some ice packs", etc. Admittedly, she was a bit out of it for a couple of minutes, and here they were trying to have her drink fluids. I just shut up and shook my head "no" at the person trying to give it to her.

Meanwhile, college policy is to call 911 and they HAVE to get transported for evaluation. By that time I had a pressure (we found a cuff and steth) and everything was normal, so we raised the head of the bed and started to talk to her. She was alert and oriented at this point. Now, in comes the fun...

For some reason, the lady that teaches the nursing program (A RN with a masters) walks in and starts barking orders... "put the head of this bed down and elevate the legs!", etc. Everything we already went through. Her bedside manner and the way she worked with others in the profession sent me so sideways I had to leave.

Alright, all that is over, poor girl is taken to the hospital. Then I learn something fairly important in my opinion. As it turns out, she already passed out once during a blood draw in class. She also passed out while we were at the blood bank and she had blood drawn, which makes two times. (Oh, I forgot to mention that before she passed out on me, she had already drawn my blood, so it's not the sight of blood.)

If I had known, or if she had said that she passes out, I would have drawn her in a bed to start off with. Everybody kept coming up to me after and saying "You really did a good job taking care of her, she already passed out twice from this so don't feel bad."

But the unprofessional way the head nursing instructor treated both myself, a paramedic, and the instructor, an EMT and certified phlebotomist, was atrocious. It was so bad that instead of doing three years of hard work to start at $60K I will gladly do 72 hours of continuing ed, take the paramedic test, and renew my license and make less than a bag boy.

:Q

Just amazing.

Cliffs:

Taking phlebotomy course and we practice on each other.
Girl I drew on nearly passed out and ended up going to the hospital.
She passed out twice before but neither she, or anybody else mentioned it.
Nurse that showed up soured me on the nursing program. (need to read it to know why)

P.S. Sorry, I have no idea how that story got so long, lmao.

 

[Q]

I don't really see what the point of the story is (sorry to sound rude)

 

[pstylesss]

Originally posted by: Quintox
I don't really see what the point of the story is (sorry to sound rude)

He's keeping me entertained while I sit here with nothing to do.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Why on earth would you let the opinion of an instructor at school (A RN with a masters or not) affect your plans for the future? Are you just discovering that many medical professionals are assholes?

You won't even get into any communication/management classes till much further along in your schooling (if ever) because the profession either believes there is too much "more important" info to cover or, being an asshole is a good thing because it allows you to detach yourself from messy non technical details like being human.

 

[OutHouse]

its amazing how snotty nurses can be. i have locked hones with a couple in the past.

 

[rezinn]

Some retired nurse is a bitch and you're going to give up your career goal? You're retarded.

 

[TheVrolok]

As a fellow EMS worker I can understand completely and that is really absurd. Go get your RN and show the world that all nurses aren't PITA slobs.

 

[Squisher]

Knowing that the medical profession kills 100,000 of their patients every year through mistakes, does it really come as a surprise that they let their egos get in the way good medical practices.

Fight the good fight and don't be "that guy."

 

[chorb]

Originally posted by: Citrix
its amazing how snotty nurses can be. i have locked hones with a couple in the past.

whats a hone? horn?

I passed out giving blood my first time. I have O+ blood which I hear is always in short supply and I was told I couldnt give blood at that donation center any more because of it.

sorry off topic

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: ZeroIQ

Originally posted by: Quintox
I don't really see what the point of the story is (sorry to sound rude)

He's keeping me entertained while I sit here with nothing to do.

well he just wasted time i would have otherwise wasted while i have nothing to do

 

[pontifex]

so if the girls passes out every time, why do they let her continue to be a test subject?

 

[Baked]

Originally posted by: pontifex
so if the girls passes out every time, why do they let her continue to be a test subject?

'Cause in America, we don't discriminate against the stupid, for fear of law suits.

 

[911paramedic]

Yeah, but then I should be a Dr. because they are even more rude. I love saying "OK, if we do what you say you need to take full responsibility for the pt and ride to the hospital with us." at which point they say, "Do what you think is best..."

Long story short, I don't want to be that bitter person that she has become. Major traumas usually don't remember the medics due to brain injuries, but I've received some really nice "thank yous" over the years.
(That was one point...)

Long story short, if this girl had a history of passing out when she was drawn that information should have been communicated. Now I ask every person if they have ever had "complications" or "trouble" when their blood was drawn.
(That is the second point...)

P.S. I like being the unseen guy that does the major stuff anyways. I'll just take a job with KBR and make $80K in the desert.

 

[911paramedic]

Originally posted by: pontifex
so if the girls passes out every time, why do they let her continue to be a test subject?

They are going to talk to her about that before she continues. She doesn't have a problem drawing the blood, just getting it drawn.

 

[waffleironhead]

Originally posted by: 911paramedic
Yeah, but then I should be a Dr. because they are even more rude. I love saying "OK, if we do what you say you need to take full responsibility for the pt and ride to the hospital with us." at which point they say, "Do what you think is best..."

Long story short, I don't want to be that bitter person that she has become. Major traumas usually don't remember the medics due to brain injuries, but I've received some really nice "thank yous" over the years.
(That was one point...)

Long story short, if this girl had a history of passing out when she was drawn that information should have been communicated. Now I ask every person if they have ever had "complications" or "trouble" when their blood was drawn.
(That is the second point...)

P.S. I like being the unseen guy that does the major stuff anyways. I'll just take a job with KBR and make $80K in the desert.

Care to have your medical history shared with strangers?

 

[Jessica69]

8 hours a day, once a week?


What's wrong with y'all? Slow?


Basic medic training, military--2 hours one day, rest of experience was OJT.

RN school.....1980---2 hrs in classroom, rest of experience was during clinical, which was 4 hours per day, every day of the week of each quarter of school. (Yes, we were still on the quarter system then, unlike the rest of the civilized world which was on semesters...)

Can't believe you have a phlebotomy class that is 8 hours long, much less more than once. Feel sorry for you......

Oh, the pain, the pain.

 

[GasX]

You should become a PA instead of a nurse so you can tell them what to do all day.

 

[911paramedic]

Originally posted by: Jessica69
8 hours a day, once a week?


What's wrong with y'all? Slow?


Basic medic training, military--2 hours one day, rest of experience was OJT.

RN school.....1980---2 hrs in classroom, rest of experience was during clinical, which was 4 hours per day, every day of the week of each quarter of school. (Yes, we were still on the quarter system then, unlike the rest of the civilized world which was on semesters...)

Can't believe you have a phlebotomy class that is 8 hours long, much less more than once. Feel sorry for you......

Oh, the pain, the pain.

Its actually three four hour days followed by the lab day.
It's 5.5 units in just under 8 weeks.

Paramedic was 1400 hours after 2 years as basic emt.

 

[eits]

that happens to a lot of people in stab lab (phlebotomy)

 

[SludgeFactory]

I can't really tell if you're serious or not, one insane bitch in academia shouldn't sour you on an entire profession. It's the subset of jaded, POS, lazy-ass nurses out in practice that pretty much do it for me. You get a group of bad ones together on a wing of a hospital and it's almost unbelievable how the place goes to shit. If you're up to the job, this country needs all the good nurses it can get.

RE: Her handling of the situation -- she's a buffoon and probably traumatized and paranoid a bunch of the students who are too young & stupid to know that people *do* pass out from time to time and that she's an overreacting moron.