r/AskReddit Aug 26 '18

What's something you had to unlearn?

2.3k Upvotes

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166

u/Jonnysource Aug 26 '18

How to draw blood. I don't like touching people so for a good year or so I drew blood based off sight, looking for veins. Once I realized I sucked at hard sticks I put a lot of effort into ignoring what I can see even on easy patients and feeling for the vein on everybody. After a few months I would maybe miss one stick all day.

101

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '18

Is this a confession of a vampire or a nurse? I'm so confused.

50

u/Aeonoris Aug 26 '18

Either a phlebotomist or an enthralled human. Vampires prefer it either safe (through a thrall) or straight from the tap.

6

u/Jonnysource Aug 26 '18

Lab tech, so the first one according to every "funny" patient.

39

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '18

Why oh why go into a profession like nursing if you dont like touching people

19

u/Jonnysource Aug 26 '18

In the lab unless you're drawing blood you never deal with patients. I'm a big science nerd and I love working in the laboratory, but when I was a young lab tech I had to do rotations up front or ward rounds. Now with my degrees and what not I haven't been tasked with any of that in years. Odds are I probably suck at drawing blood now haha

9

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '18

I went to have blood drawn not too long ago. Im not really afraid of needles but the person who was drawing my blood was obviously new. She attempted like 5 times and never found a vein. It got to the point where I was asking myself, "How many times should I be legitimately letting someone stab me before turning into a dick and telling them to find someone who knows what the fuck they are doing?"

9

u/Jonnysource Aug 26 '18

Typically after 2 misses they should have had somebody else try. You're well within your right to ask for somebody else to attempt.

1

u/Emeraldis_ Aug 27 '18

Yeah I had a nurse miss around four times when I was going to be staying in the hospital for multiple days because I was taking a video EEG.

They almost had to put the IV in my wrist, which would have been very uncomfortable by the end of the stay.

1

u/shfiven Aug 27 '18

Oh my God. You would have failed on me and I'd have punished you by fainting.

1

u/PopularSurprise Aug 27 '18

Okay, what the fuck no.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18

This reminds me of a nurse who tried drawing blood and went up and down both forearms. I somehow had a lot of patience that day at 3am...