How do you know if you have a collapsed vein?

I had a blood test yesterday and the nurse taking the blood injected the needle and then pulled it out after about 7 seconds. Usually when having blood taken the needle is left in a lot longer but she did it very quickly. Also my arm doesn't usually bleed much. However yesterday blood was coming out in blobs for minutes she had to go through 3 cotton buds before it stopped and I had to put pressure on it for 5 minutes, in the past it's not been this bad. Is this because she did the suction too fast? Also are them signs of a blown or collapsed vein? How do you know if a vein has collapsed?

Sounds like she has a bad technique. Veins collapse all the time. Normally in the elderly though. There's nothing to worry if it has though. As long as the bleeding stopped now you'll be fine. If it was an artery she'd used - it would have been known at the time.

Ok cheers but is it likely that the vein collapsed, what are the signs etc? What happend to the vein just curious

It only takes a couple of seconds to fill a vacutainer.

Is that will proper technique though? Or are you supposed to draw it slowly

Vacutainers that are used routinely to take blood are little plastic tubes that have a vacuum inside. The fill up pretty quickly once you use them, usually in a couple of seconds when I use them. Your vein won't have collapsed, even if it had it would be back to normal again, veins are quite rubbery and aren't rigid structures that stay collapsed.