Clinical Focus
Business Focus
Spotlight
Subscribe
CE/CME
- CDC
- Heart Failure
- Cardiovascular Clinical Consult
- Adult Immunization
- Hepatic Disease
- Rare Disorders
- Pediatric Immunization
- Implementing The Topcon Ocular Telehealth Platform
- Weight Management
- Monkeypox
- Guidelines
- Men's Health
- Psychiatry
- Allergy
- Nutrition
- Women's Health
- Cardiology
- Substance Use
- Pediatrics
- Kidney Disease
- Genetics
- Complimentary & Alternative Medicine
- Dermatology
- Endocrinology
- Oral Medicine
- Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases
- Pain
- Gastrointestinal Disorders
- Geriatrics
- Infection
- Musculoskeletal Disorders
- Obesity
- Rheumatology
- Technology
- Cancer
- Nephrology
- Anemia
- Neurology
- Pulmonology
Blood Draw Technique
A quick tip to make blood draws safer and easier
When you draw blood for arterial blood gas determinations, you usually place a finger on either side of the point where the needle will enter, locate the artery, and simultaneously stabilize loose superficial tissue.
If you miss the artery, however, don’t subject the patient to one or more blind probes.
Instead, leave the needle in place. Lightly palpate laterally and medially to the needle until you locate the artery. Then withdraw the need until the tip is just below the skin surface, adjust the direction of insertion, and you will pierce the artery.
Related Videos
Related Content
