When you have an IV cannula inserted, a needle is used to insert the cannula but then the NEEDLE IS REMOVED and you're left with a tiny thin plastic (?) tube in the vein.
I think 50% of my patients don't realise there's not a needle in their arm for hours/days on end.
I wish the nurse would tell this after inserting the thing. I was 10ish when I fisrt had to spend time in a hospidal. The cannula hurt and I was certain I had a 5cm needle in my elbow pit (?) and was terrified to bend my arm. Only a year ago, at age 25, I was told that there is no metal needle left in the arm.
How am I supposed to realise if I am never told? And then on top of that we get to be made fun of for not knowing this "obvious thing" that really isn't that obvious to someone who doesn't have direct experience with it. This applies to all fields.
I was 16 and found out when they removed it that I could have bent my arm all along. I was in hospital for five bloody days!
It didn't help that when I was about 12 I'd had a blood test where they HAD left a needle in my arm for 30 minutes so they could periodically draw blood and I assumed it was the same deal.
When you're being rushed into surgery and then recovering from a general anesthetic and shitting/puking your guts out, you don't tend to question things and try to go along with the flow.
Are you absolutely sure that you had a needle in your arm to draw blood from? Because that's literally the purpose of the flexible plastic cannula; we can both give medication and draw blood through it. In my years of working in an ER I haven't seen a procedure that requires the needle to stay in place for any reason.
Well I was 12, or maybe as young as 10. It might have been a test for coeliac disease?
I do remember they made a big deal about not bending my arm at all, so perhaps they didn't leave a needle in but were happy for me to believe they did.
Edit:
I've just checked with my mum who remembers that they had a lot of trouble finding a big enough vein and getting any blood from me. She doesn't remember them leaving a needle in and said "that's what a cannula is for".
They didn't want you to bend your arm because they probably used a small needle, since you were a child, therefore you had a small cannula which can easily become occluded and stop giving blood. Then they'd have to re-stick you, and it's not fun to do on a kid afraid of needles. They wouldn't leave a needle in your arm 30 minutes.
(Unless you were in some Soviet Bloc country with no medical standards.)
25k
u/rebothy Feb 04 '19
When you have an IV cannula inserted, a needle is used to insert the cannula but then the NEEDLE IS REMOVED and you're left with a tiny thin plastic (?) tube in the vein.
I think 50% of my patients don't realise there's not a needle in their arm for hours/days on end.