Arterial line sampling

Question 1

What should you do before drawing a sample?

Answer 1

1. Clean hands and don gloves
2. Silence any alarms
3. Alcohol wipe the draw site for 30 secs

Question 2

What are the steps for drawing a sample from a arterial line?

Answer 2

1. Turn off stopcock towards the transducer
2. Pull back 10 ml of blood into the syringe
3. close the stopcock twards the patients off
4. Draw 1-3 mls of blood into the syringe
5. Turn on the stopcock towards the patient and flush the syringe
6. Turn on the stopcock to the transducuer
7. Inspect the site of withdrawal to see if there are any changes to the color of skin, bruising, bleeding
8. ensure the return of arterial pressure waveform
9. assess pt vitals
10. activate alarms