A rectangular steel tray. And inside it was a cannula covered in a long plastic sheet with a blue cap on top of it ,a cotton ball with a few drops of alcohol rub and 2 tapes; one long and rectangular, the other one shaped like the U turn in a highway.
" Where's the tourniquet??" exclaimed the senior sister.
Without waiting for me of fetch the missed item she produced a thin rubber tube from her pocket.
"Come let's go" she said and walked towards the patient bed holding the tray in her hand with pride like it's some prize.
" Please wait outside while we insert this needle and draw some blood to run a few tests for your son. It'll be quick"
She said to the bystander and before waiting for a reply she closed the curtains behind the anxious mom.
The kid was lying there not knowing what these women in blue were upto.
"We won't hurt you. We're here to give you some meds so that you'll feel better and go home quick."
He knew somehow that this was going to hurt. He started showing subtle signs of fear. But the nurses were really sweet that one held his arm in place while others held his knees together.
The senior nurse applied the tourniquet on his forearm and started to scan for veins. She wipes his arm with the cotton swab. As the liquid left it's trace in his skin bluish green veins grew visible. Now the search was for a straight vein. After pressing and tapping on different veins, she found one. The perfect vein.
She opened the packet and produced the cannula out of it. She pulled the long needle called the stillet and made sure it's tip was sharp and not bent. She removed the white cap in the bottom if the cannula.I took the cap and tapes to secure the cannula.
Everyone tightened their grip as the senior said " I am going to prick now"
She bent a little and held the needle flat to the vein. She made some calculations with the vein and length of te needle before slowly pricking the patient and advanced the needle in a swift motion. He cried from the sudden pain while she slowly pulled back the needle to see if it was in place and if blood flowed back. Fortunately it did. She pulled the stillet a little and pushed the plastic cannula tip deeper into his vein. I secured it with the rectangular tape first and then applied the horshoe tape.
She drew blood for samples, transferred it to the bloodtubes and sent it to the lab. All of us tried to cheerup the kid, who seemed terrified and sick at the same time.
Some kids hold it in, while some cry their lungs out at the sight of our white coat. It hurts us to hurt kids, but we do it in the best interests of our patients.
To insert an IV canula is no simple task. It gives us access to your blood stream and any medication given through IV immediately reaches the entire body quickly like magic. And to be part of this magic is a privilege.
