Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Stick a needle in my eye

Holy crap! Some people should really find another job when they so terribly SUCK at the one they have. We are getting life insurance and so we had to donate blood and urine and apparently tears.

It was a bad omen from the get go. Our appointment was at 9 am. The women called and asked for directions to our house. Rod gave it to her at 8:30 am. I had Rod call her back to see if she got lost and she was sitting in our driveway. Huh?? She arrived at 9:30 which there was no reason it took an hour to get to our house from where she started.

She's a short little woman maybe late 40's. She gets her stuff on the dining table and pushes all my paperwork aside. I got weighed, did the urine sample and was ready for the needle. She looked at both my arms and rather than feeling for the vein, which a good phlebotomist does, she tries to eyeball it for a visible vein. She finds one and tells me to make a fist. She sticks me. Doesn't get blood. Then she starts wiggling and moving the needle in and out of my arm. She asks if I am dehydrated. I say no, I have been drinking water. She finally gets a trickle and it is the slowest blood drip ever. I have no idea where the hell she got her schooling but maybe she needs to practice some more on those oranges.

I told Rod it was his turn and left for work. I did a bad thing and not warn him about nurse hatchet. I figured it was just me but she really does suck.

This is Rod retelling me what happened.

Hatchet: Boy, your arms are thick
Rod: {says to self, this can't be good}
H: Well, I'm just going to stick you where I think a vein should be.
R: Yeah, ok, good luck with that.
H:(sticks him and wiggles the needle around) ooh, I think I missed. Are you in pain?
R:{cringes} No
H:I think I am going to try the other arm.
R:ok
H: (sticks him in the other arm) It's flowing slow. You must be dehydrated. You need to drink more water.
R: {thinks to self: I don't need more water, I just need someone who can draw blood like a decent human being.}

Seriously? I cannot believe no one has complained about this woman. I contacted our agent to see if he can give me the info to the company that they contract to do the blood work. certainly don't want to get anyone fired but I cannot in good conscience let this woman continue this way. What if she had to draw blood from a child or an infant? Their veins are even smaller.

4 comments:

letti said...

good grief, i hate it when people do the wiggly thing. Being someone who has had to draw blood from countless people and babies, there IS an art to it, and they should ban people who are hopeless at it from doing it. Bleh.

Xtina said...

I am surprised she didn't just ask if she could chop off the end of your pinky

Sarah said...

oh man! i would definitely tell your agent - she did not know what she was doing.

Kari @ A Giveaway Addicted Mommy said...

This must be a big problem because a little over a year ago we had the same experience. We looked like heroin addicts after she was done with us. I hope you reported her - I didn't and wish I had after reading this. I thought it was just me.