On the campus health center

I had to go to Birkham today to get a possible latex allergy checked out. So I headed down there at about 3pm, thinking that I'd be there about an hour. I sat in the waiting room for 45 minutes. That was pretty boring. So then I got called back and did the whole vitals/what brings you here today thing. Then I waited for about 15 minutes for the doctor, so we're going at like an hour and fifteen minutes now. I talk to the doctor for 5 minutes and she decides to order a lab test that has to go out to Mayo Clinic to be tested. So I wait another 15 minutes to get the blood drawn. And then as the nurse makes ANOTHER copy of my copy of my insurance card to send to the hospital and looks up what tube and stuff she needs to draw, then she processes some other specimens that were being spun down. Then she has me lay down on the table and she grabs LATEX gloves. Um hello, I'm getting a test done to be drawn for a latex allergy. I said something and she was like "Oh yeah. I'd better go grab the other gloves." So I hear her digging around for the gloves and then she comes back wearing latex free gloves. And then the nurse takes forever to find my vein and then she cleaned the site and I didn't exactly see her clean her finger but then she had to repalpate the site. Then she attempted the draw. Attempted being the key word. I felt the needle go in, no problem. Then she must have realised that she wasn't in the vein because I felt her move the needle. That hurt. She did not reposition the needle properly. She didn't end up getting enough blood so now I have to go to the hospital in the morning to get my blood drawn at the lab. And I have a bruise.

Lesson for the day: Never trust a nurse to do a phlebotomist's job. (sorry Jill)