Reflection on OSCE Venepuncture

Running head: REFLECTION ON OSCE VENEPUNCTURE
REFLECTION ON OSCE VENEPUNCTURE
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1REFLECTION ON OSCE VENEPUNCTURE
Description
Venepuncture and obtaining blood is an important procedure in the health care and can
assist in the diagnosis, treatment and care of the patient (Brooks, 2017). During my placement in
the X hospital I was assigned to carry out the procedure of venepuncture from a patient. As I
entered the room of the patient, I greeted the patient cordially and confirmed the patient
identification by tallying the full name, the DOB and the hospital number. After that I explained
the rationale for the procedure to the patient and also informed him about the possible risks. I
went through the past medical history of the patient. In the treatment room I prepared the
equipment such as the tourniquets, needles, blood bottles, chlorohexidine, and cotton balls on an
equipment trolley. I made it sure to decontaminate the hands with warm water and soap before
touching the equipment. Once I was at the bed side of the patient, I positioned the arm of the
patient under a pillow with the inco pad. I applied the tourniquet, selected the suitable vein,
removed the tourniquet and cleaned the site with an alcohol swab and allowed to air dry. Again
applying the tourniquet a traction is placed on the skin below the site of the puncture, the needle
is inserted and with the bevel at an angle of 30 degree (Gabriel, 2012). The sample bottles are
attached in turn to fill up to the required level and inverting each bottle once after the filling. The
tourniquet is released, a cotton wool is placed over the puncture site and the needle is withdrawn
slowly. The needle is disposed off in the sharps bin (Brooks, 2017). Direct pressure is applied
over the site for a minute and was secured with the help of a tape. Ensuring the patient is
comfortable, I removed my gloves and decontaminated by hand once again. Finally I thanked the
patient and left the bedside.

2REFLECTION ON OSCE VENEPUNCTURE
Feeling
Although phlebotomy is a very basic procedure, but errors in phlebotomy might lead to
repeated sampling and delay in the diagnosis and might also jeopardise the safety of the patient. I
was a bit nervous about the procedure as I had to perform this in front of my supervisor.
Although I was well aware of each of the steps as I have performed them repeatedly with a
mannequin but situations becomes complex when you are dealing with a real patient. I was
anxious that I might not get the perfect vein or I might miss the hand hygiene steps, or I might
forget to ask for consent from the patient. Inappropriate insertion of the needles might cause pain
to the patient (Brooks, 2017). Hence I was a bit perturbed about the perfect choice for the
insertion site. Initially I was having a problem in finding an appropriate vein; hence I thought I
might have attached the tourniquet in the wrong place.
Evaluation
One of the mistake that I have conducted in this procedure that although I have informed
the patient about the procedure but have skipped the etiquette of obtaining consent from the
patient before touching him for the collecting the blood samples. Another major mistake that I
have performed during the procedure is that, I have maintained the five moments of hand
hygiene before arranging the equipment but missed it when I was at the bedside of the patient.
Right after the mistake I realised that I have missed such an important step. This can be due to
the fact, that I was very nervous during the procedure. However, I believe that I need to develop
more confidence while carrying out such procedures as being forgetful or nervous might
jeopardise with the safety of the patient. Nevertheless, I believe that other than these two steps, I
correctly conducted the procedure starting from interacting with the patient, selecting the
appropriate vein, application of the tourniquet to drawing of blood. I was also mindful about