Venipuncture Blood Draw
Key Points
- Verify order, patient identity, and bleeding or allergy risks before needle insertion.
- Use aseptic site preparation and maintain tourniquet time at 2 minutes or less.
- Follow correct tube order of draw, inverting tubes appropriately and labeling at bedside.
Equipment
- Clean gloves and additional PPE as indicated
- Antiseptic agent (alcohol, chlorhexidine, or povidone-iodine)
- Vacutainer or syringe, venipuncture needle/winged device, and single-use tourniquet
- Blood collection tubes, labels, gauze, dressing, biohazard transport bag, and sharps container
Procedure Steps
- Verify provider order, review chart for bleeding risk and allergies, perform hand hygiene, and confirm two patient identifiers.
- Position the arm, inspect and palpate veins, then apply tourniquet about 2 inches above site while confirming distal pulse (limits arterial compromise).
- Cleanse site with single-use antiseptic applicator and allow complete drying before puncture.
- Anchor vein, insert needle bevel up at about 30 degrees, start collection, and release tourniquet once blood flow begins.
- Fill tubes in proper order of draw, invert each tube per additive guidance, remove needle with gauze pressure, activate safety device, and apply dressing.
- Label all specimens in the patient’s presence, transport immediately per policy, dispose sharps safely, reassess patient, and document all required findings.
Common Errors
- Leaving the tourniquet on too long or failing to release when flow begins → hemoconcentration and specimen quality risk
- Labeling away from bedside or delayed transport → identification and preanalytical error risk
Related
- peripheral-iv-access - Shared vascular access assessment and insertion safety principles.
- specimen-labeling-safety - Bedside labeling prevents high-harm identification errors.