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Last night I went to the hospital, the nurse was attempting to draw blood from my arm. My veins were too small, the thing that concerned me was....after she had inserted a needle into the vein of my arm, she put a syringe at the end of it-attempting to draw blood-my blood was not being drawn into the syringe-instead she pushed about an inch of air into my veins twice with the syringe-is this proper or harmful?

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I understand your problem. The nurse should have used a butterfly needle to draw your blood. What I believe she was doing was "fishing" for a vein, moving the needle around to find out. This is not really an acceptable way to find one either although I have done this many times with great results. It isn't really harmful but it can cause the patient more pain than a regular needle stick. I'm not sure why she would push air into our veins if she even did. This could endanger your life if you were susceptible to certain conditions. You should call the hospital or clinic and report this. Apply a hot/warm compress to the area several times a day and make sure to watch for signs of infection such as spreading redness, pain when moving the hand/fingers, and discolored drainage from the site. If you still have pain after 4 days then you should see a doctor anyway for proper evaluation and treatment if needed. If this answer helps please hit the accept button. Thank you.

Edited by CorpsmanUp! on September 20 2006 at 11:00 PM

Quote: You guys are the Marine's doctors; There's no better in the business than a Navy Corpsman...." Lieutenant General Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, U.S.M.C

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Reply to James's Post: She pushed an inch of air in my veins with the syringe, I couldn't comprehend why she had done this. I will report the incident to the hospital-she unsucessfully used a butterfly needle after my vein in my other hand was blown-another iv tech used the same injection site to redraw blood and was sucessful in doing so. My reasons for going there was because my blood pressure was 153/100-symptoms of hi blood pressure. I had eaten a high content of sodium (salt)-I believe my diet was the cause for my blood pressure. What danger did I become subject to? What can be done to reverse whatever was done?

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