The fun thing about clinical attachments is that we get to do procedures on patients. (Weeee~) And since I love working with my hands (i.e: poke and prod people), this is the time for me to shine~
Now, one of the things listed on our clinical checklist is to place an IV cannula. For those non-medics out there, that simply translates to poking one of your veins with a needle and placing a slender tube into it so that big, mean, scary nurses can flush a whole concoction of stuff into your body as you watch helplessly. =P
I've seen a fair bit of iv cannulas being placed into patients by doctors in the emergency department. But for some mad reason, these same doctors don't seem to trust me enough to let me try one on a patient. 2 whole weeks in the emergency department, and all i got to do was observe. (dang!)
Since they won't let me do it on patients (yet), me and fellow 1st-time-iv-cannula-placers decided to practice on ourselves (under the watchful eyes of a qualified doctor of cos). And my first victim of the day was Anie!! Hahahaha, I bet she was scared silly that i was the one doing it on her. But guess what? I managed to place the thing in one go! YAY for me!!!!
Then, the tables were turned and I had to volunteer my veins. (Erk....)
I hate to admit this, but the thought of a needle being pushed roughly into my skin makes me squirm like a little girl. I have no problem poking needles into others. I just get mightily nervous when it's the other way around and I'm the one on the hotseat.
So I said to my friends in a rather serious tone (to not give away the fact that i was actually petrified), "I don't think i'd be a good guinea pig. My veins are kinda hard to find." (which is not entirely truthful~).
Ahhh, but then the doctor (bless her kind heart) proceeded to place a tourniquet over my arm, prodded my skin here and there and promptly declared that my veins were juicy and straight enough to be poked at by 1st timers!
(arghhhh, stress!)
So in the end i did volunteer my veins, twice! (Huhuhuhu.. my poor veins~). My friend who was playing the part of the cool doctor said "Izyan, kalau takut jangan tengok while i do this". What??? Of cos i have to tengok! What if you missed and poke my artery instead?? NO WAY, darling will i let you poke me without me watching. Hahaha.. i was the patient suffering from a horrible case of paranoia. (btw, it hurt okay!)
But i survived the ordeal. And all is well.
I've got another iv cannulation practice scheduled for today.
Let's just pray my veins will be spared this time around. (*wink)
7 comments:
Cucuk, jgn tak cucuk!
From the way you explained, I dont think it's that hard. Cari veins, cucuk at 45 degrees, nampak blood skit, slide into the vein.
But it's quite weird bile tgk cite House. Cucuk menegak.. different technique?
tapi mcm best je leh cucuk2 orang...
itula doctor namanya..
izyan, tak aci! my victims all this while hanya manikins..cit! but i think, taking arterial blood gas jauh lagi susah kan?
p/s : NH, i know here, the range of angle in IV cann is 15-45 degrees, but 90 degrees? Org US ni mmg pelik sket
kat sana diorang cucuk kat mana ek? kalau russia vena mediana. Malaysia lain rasanya, mana-mana vein kat dorsal surface of hand kot.
[NoktahHitam] - You go in at about 90 degrees when taking arterial blood if i'm not mistaken, so maybe that's what Dr house was doing. But i've never tried taking arterial blood. I heard it hurts more than being poked in the vein.
[callister] - hehehe.. best la jugak cucuk orang. But not everyone suka dicucuk.
[aween lia-na] - yeah, arterial blood lagi susah nak ambil cos you can't exactly see arteries bulging out like you would the vein.
[13] - frankly speaking, i have no clue what u're saying (and i don't intend on flipping thru my anatomy textbook either). Dorsal surface of the hand sounds about right, tho. =)
hm..ireland ngan malaysia sama kot..diorang letak butterfly kat situ..russia median cubital vein, right below cubital fossa..kat lengan la.eheh..
maknanya russia je la pelik..i wonder how can i practise medicine in malaysia
Actually, it doesn't really matter where you put the cannula. As long as you can get the meds in.
I once saw this patient yg had surgery on one arm and the other arm fixed in place sebab arthritis or something (can't remember). And since they couldn't place the cannula anywhere on the arm, they had to put one into her foot instead.
Like i said, as long as you get the job done, it's basically A-okay. So don't worry about having problems practicing in Malaysia just cos you were taught to put the iv cannula in kat diff parts of the anatomy. =)
(at least, that's what i think la)
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