The Student Room Group

nurses dont take blood so aren't taught now?????????

Spoke to a girl in chester uni first few month into yr 1 & she says she wont be taught how to take blood as its no longer necessary? 'Surely that's not correct?
im not sure maybe because its uncommon thats what my mum says shes a nurse and she takes blood all the time but she told me they rarely do it because they hate it
Thought the nurses are the only people in the hospital that actively take blood from people lol.
I would imagine that most nurses are taught how to take blood and a large proportion how to cannulate. It aint rocket science.
Maybe the new batch of nursing students don't, but where I work the nurses abso-friggin-lutely do blood tests. :lol: I don't imagine it's very enjoyable though. I've got a few friends doing nursing, I'm curious now.
Ive heard nurses arent taught and you have to do a separate phlebotomy course to do bloods but midwives are as they take blood on a regular basis. And depending what branch you study you may not learn how to do iv's etc either.

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you're taught once you've qualified, you are not allowed to do it as a student.
Reply 7
I wonder why so many nurses in hospitals are so hopeless at simply taking a blood sample or putting a line in?

OK so some are challenging eg older people with poor skin/veins but they even mess it up on younger people and leave them full of bruises.

At the blood donor centre they get it right first time,no fuss. In fact if there is the merest sign of a bruise they have to fill in reports and molly coddle you !
Original post by Limpopo
I wonder why so many nurses in hospitals are so hopeless at simply taking a blood sample or putting a line in?

OK so some are challenging eg older people with poor skin/veins but they even mess it up on younger people and leave them full of bruises.

At the blood donor centre they get it right first time,no fuss. In fact if there is the merest sign of a bruise they have to fill in reports and molly coddle you !


Because nurses arent taught at uni. You learn when qualified when you do a phlebotomy course. People who do blood donations, think of how many times they must have connected a line for people to donate. Practice makes perfect as they say.

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Venepuncture, cannulation and so on are taught as courses at hospital trusts rather than as a university based clinical skill. Some universities do teach it, but not many. A lot of trusts can be funny about who they allow to take blood in nursing roles, they like you to have done their training so you know how to do it "their" way. It's the same with IV drug administration.
At the hospital I work all the nurses learn how to take bloods in their 3rd year at uni but we have had newly qualified nurses come to work on our ward from say Derby University and they were never taught how to take bloods so have to do the training whilst working on the ward. The student nurses in the 3rd year have to be signed off by say 8 people, nurses etc who have witnessed them taking blood before they qualify


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Reply 11
Yea well I know HCA's can do it if they complete the training I was looking forward to learning how to take blood haha seemingly I wont be saying that once I get started still though exciting to start my nurse training in sept :-D
Original post by tloulou07
Yea well I know HCA's can do it if they complete the training I was looking forward to learning how to take blood haha seemingly I wont be saying that once I get started still though exciting to start my nurse training in sept :-D


HCA's in my local trust are taught how to do it and some agencies will also send you on courses to learn. So im not worrying too much! :smile:

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Reply 13
Original post by tloulou07
Spoke to a girl in chester uni first few month into yr 1 & she says she wont be taught how to take blood as its no longer necessary? 'Surely that's not correct?


I don't think its necessary as they have the
Plebotomists that go onto the wards and the f1 and med students do it. But nurses do take blood, they have extra training for it once qualified, if needed.
Venepuncture and cannulation are taught after uni if you wish to learn it :smile:


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Reply 15
Gret thanks for all the info cant wait :-D :-)
Reply 16
I take bloods as a HCA and all the nurses have to learn at the trust where I work. As a student nurse you cannot take bloods or take BMs (unless attended training) even those students who were seconded from the trust and could do bloods as a HCA. There are certain things a HCA can do that students can't and vice versa. It is a skill that is taught as extra training at each trust even if you were competent at another trust you still have to undergo the training again. Same with cannulation, catheterisation etc.

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