E. Alton, IL. - The modern blood draw methods date back to bloodletting
techniques performed by battlefield barbers in the 19th Century. The researchers
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keep tweaking the tools, and even adding new tools (i.e. the IV pump, the vein
finder tool), and some on working in a porcupine quill needle template, and
others on a robot that can perform these procedures, but still each year millions
of people are injured by IVs, blood donations and routine blood draws. In 2008
alone, there were an estimated 174 million ‘vein access failure’ in US hospitals –
‘estimated’ because no body formally tracks failures. Damages range from
bruises and botched samples to disabling nerve injuries and even amputations.
After an intense 20-year study of these vein access procedures, which includes
vein anatomy, RN Gail Stotler believes she has a solution. But to get labs,
nursing, and radiology to accept it she first must debunk a cherished ritual from
the 1800s—the use of a tourniquet.
Bloodletting required the use of the tourniquet to prevent patients from
‘bleeding to death’. As the practice evolved, when the needle was invented and
the razor/scalpel was put aside, no one questioned the continued use of the
‘rubber hose’. But Stotler found the tourniquet itself causes an artificial
distention of the vein, leading to failed sticks, vein ruptures, and an array of
injuries.
The solution is low-tech. Stotler’s Illinois-based Vein Access Technologies has
already trained more than 1500 vein access techs in careful palpation and
grading of the vein, without use of a tourniquet. The new method results in
successful one-stick event 95-99% of the time.
Stotler’s aim is to transform blood draw technique worldwide--but will the
medical establishment be willing to do away with a time-honored tradition?
“For 1600 hundred years a tourniquet has been used.” says Stotler. “Patients are
thrilled to discover that their procedure could be done without a tourniquet, or a
snug one if needed.” It was causing pain before the needle was even inserted.
To learn more about Gail Stotler’s crusade to prevent injury and reform an antiquated medical practice, there is a FREE lecture:
No More Pain In Your Vein: The Better Blood Draw
April 17, 2014, Thursday, 1pm-2pm OR 5:30pm-6:30pm
SIUe - Morris Center - Hickory Room
FREE
RSVP required: register at www.VATmethod.com or call us at 618-259-7781
Lecture about the new information and new way to perform these procedures without causing all that pain and injury.
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