Blood from hands vs. arms

Hey I have hard-to-find veins and i usually ask the tech to take blood from my hands (for samples, not donation) and this usually gets a negative response from them.

Is there a reason why they wouldn’t want to take blood from my hands (which have excellent veins)? I used to think it might prodice a less-acurate sample or something. This time around I got the vibe that most people tell them “don’t take it from my hand” because it’s ugly or something. For me, it hurts a lot less and leaves hardly a scar. I think this because when I ask to have them take it from my hand, they comply and if it were a less-than-accurate sample, they wouldn’t do it.

Also, while we’re on the subject, what’s the medical term for the place inside your elbow joint where blood is usually drawn?

There’s generally a better blood return from veins on the arms, they’ve got more of a venous blood supply feeding them than hand veins do. And many blood draw techs are trained to draw strictly from the antecubital fossa or thereabouts, so will be reluctant to draw from elsewhere. But there’s no real difference in venous blood otherwise. As a medical student and resident, I used veins on hands, feet, between finger, under the tongue, even on the dorsal surface of the penis, to get necessary blood samples.

The reason is simple. A straight needle attached to a vacutainer holder costs about 6 cents. A butterfly needle (which is used for your hand) costs about $2. You can’t use the vacutainer on a hand since it draws the blood using the vacuum in the sample tube. The vacuum pulls too hard and collapses the vein. Samplewise there’s no difference unless they’re doing Coag tests on you. Some coag factors adhere to the tubing on the butterfly needle and change your test results. Even then, the change isn’t all that significant.

The inside of your elbow is called the antecubital region. If you have trouble with antecubital blood draws, ask them to take a look at the “intern’s vein”. To find it you need to make a fist and then place it on the table as if you were pounding on it. The vein will be on the highest point on your wrist right where it joins your hand. You’ll be able to find it because it will stay squishy and bouncy in spite of you flexing the muscles in your arm and hand. Good luck and let me know if you need any more tips on helping your phlebotomist draw you.

LabRat

Thank you both for your answers. I never even noticed that they use different methods for drawing from each place, even though I generally “switch up” regularly.

The techs at the lab i go to (at the hospital) are usually awesome at getting from my arm these days. Yesterday I just suggested taking from the hand just in case they missed and I got some bruising, because I was on my way to band practice and I am a trombone player :slight_smile: