Friday, April 20, 2007
Fishing Korean Style
(3)
The woman inserted the needle. It seemed to me that she nailed the vein but overshot into the tissue below. She inserted the vacuum receptacle. No blood flow. She withdrew the needle slightly, rotated it about 20 degrees, then reinserted it to the original depth. Still no blood flow. It was obvious to me that she was 'fishing.' She withdrew the needle slightly again, and rotated it in the reverse direction. Still no blood. By this time the alarm bells in my head had reached a deafening level. I said, 'You have no idea what you are doing. Stop!' She was unresponsive. I yelled 'Nurse!'
She pulled the needle out and a gob of blood spurted out of my arm. She soaked it up with a cotton ball. She appeared to be paralized, holding the cotton over the wound. I explained to her that I could do that and that she should wind the elastic bandaid around my arm and let me go. She was unresponsive.
I forced her fingers away from the cotton ball and took over. She then wrapped the elastic around my arm. I stood up and called for the supervisor. The fucking supervisor was unavailable. I called for the acting fucking supervisor. (I did not use profanity, of course.) Meanwhile, a nurse-technician with whom I had previously dealt took the blood sample from my left arm.
The acting supervisor showed up and I explained to her what had happened. I suggested that the Korean woman was incompetent to draw blood. She seemed unimpressed. In fact, the incompetent Korean woman was attending to another patient even as we spoke. That patient was another Asian woman who had a horrified look on her face as she watch us discuss the technician who was attending her. I would glance back at her somewhat later to see her reaction, and she was looking away as if she did not want to know what was happening to her arm. The black woman mentioned previously asked me, 'Are you ok?' I replied that, I was 'pissed, but otherwise ok.'
The AS gave me a cold bag and explained that it would limit blood seepage around the wound. I declined in view of the fact that seepage appeared to be minimal, and I had like rescources in the freezer. I then left the scene and visited KSS. Before entering KSS I pulled off the elastic bandage on the left arm. Later at home I pulled off the elastic bandage on the right arm. Blood seepage from the lascerated right arm vein was minimal, as you can see from the photograph, taken today (friday).
The woman inserted the needle. It seemed to me that she nailed the vein but overshot into the tissue below. She inserted the vacuum receptacle. No blood flow. She withdrew the needle slightly, rotated it about 20 degrees, then reinserted it to the original depth. Still no blood flow. It was obvious to me that she was 'fishing.' She withdrew the needle slightly again, and rotated it in the reverse direction. Still no blood. By this time the alarm bells in my head had reached a deafening level. I said, 'You have no idea what you are doing. Stop!' She was unresponsive. I yelled 'Nurse!'
She pulled the needle out and a gob of blood spurted out of my arm. She soaked it up with a cotton ball. She appeared to be paralized, holding the cotton over the wound. I explained to her that I could do that and that she should wind the elastic bandaid around my arm and let me go. She was unresponsive.
I forced her fingers away from the cotton ball and took over. She then wrapped the elastic around my arm. I stood up and called for the supervisor. The fucking supervisor was unavailable. I called for the acting fucking supervisor. (I did not use profanity, of course.) Meanwhile, a nurse-technician with whom I had previously dealt took the blood sample from my left arm.
The acting supervisor showed up and I explained to her what had happened. I suggested that the Korean woman was incompetent to draw blood. She seemed unimpressed. In fact, the incompetent Korean woman was attending to another patient even as we spoke. That patient was another Asian woman who had a horrified look on her face as she watch us discuss the technician who was attending her. I would glance back at her somewhat later to see her reaction, and she was looking away as if she did not want to know what was happening to her arm. The black woman mentioned previously asked me, 'Are you ok?' I replied that, I was 'pissed, but otherwise ok.'
The AS gave me a cold bag and explained that it would limit blood seepage around the wound. I declined in view of the fact that seepage appeared to be minimal, and I had like rescources in the freezer. I then left the scene and visited KSS. Before entering KSS I pulled off the elastic bandage on the left arm. Later at home I pulled off the elastic bandage on the right arm. Blood seepage from the lascerated right arm vein was minimal, as you can see from the photograph, taken today (friday).
