Most of the time, blood is drawn from a vein located on the inside of the elbow or the back of the hand. The site is cleaned with germ-killing medicine (antiseptic). An elastic band is put around the upper arm to apply pressure to the area. This makes the vein swell with blood.

Where else can blood be drawn?

The median cubital vein, which lies within the cubital fossa anterior to the elbow, is close to the surface of the skin without many large nerves positioned nearby. Other veins that can be used in the cubital fossa for venipuncture include the cephalic, basilic, and median antebrachial veins.

Which vein is most commonly used to draw blood from the arm?

Venipuncture. The median cubital vein in the antecubital fossa is the most commonly used site due to its accessibility and size, followed by the neighboring cephalic and basilic veins [13,49,51,52].

Where is the cephalic vein located?

arm
The cephalic vein is a superficial vein of the upper limb and it’s one of the two main veins of the arm. Its name derives from ‘cephalic’ meaning head, as the vein runs up to the shoulder.

What is the proper order of the draw?

The correct order of draw follows:

• Blood culture tube or bottle.
• Sodium citrate tube (eg, blue closure)
• Serum tubes, including those with clot activator and gels (eg, red, red-speckled, gold closures)
• Heparin tube with or without gel (eg, dark green, light green, speckled green closures)

What are the two most common locations for venipuncture?

The most site for venipuncture is the antecubital fossa located in the anterior elbow at the fold. This area houses three veins: the cephalic, median cubital, and basilic veins (Figure 1).

What is the most common venipuncture site?

The most common site of venipuncture is the upper arm. The present study macroscopically and anatomically ascertained positional relationships between cutaneous nerves and veins in the cubital (aka antecubital) fossa in many cadaveric dissections to determine the risk of peripheral nerve injury during venipuncture.

Can blood be drawn from forearm?

Learn more about the typical anatomy of the arm and hand when it comes to veins. For example, many people who perform blood draws will do so in the antecubital area of the arm (inner part of the forearm) where there are several large veins.

What side of the arm is the cephalic vein?

The cephalic vein is a superficial vein of the upper limb and it’s one of the two main veins of the arm. Its name derives from ‘cephalic’ meaning head, as the vein runs up to the shoulder….Cephalic vein.

What are the 3 main veins to draw blood?

There are three veins most commonly used in venipuncture, or phlebotomy. They are the cephalic, median cubital, and basilic veins. These three veins are found in the antecubital area. The cephalic vein is found on the lateral, or outside, of the arm.

What causes pain after blood draw?

Another Cause of Pain: Nerve Injury During a blood test, the phlebotomist withdraws blood from a vein in the arm using a needle. Unfortunately, nerves are in close proximity to the major blood vessels in the arm. Sometimes during a blood draw, the needle hits a nerve. This can cause not only pain, but numbness and tingling in the arm or hand.

How to draw blood?

Steps on How to Draw Blood Place on a sterile pair of gloves before drawing the patient’s blood. Make sure that the patient is completely comfortable. Gather the necessary supplies (alcohol swabs, tubes, tourniquet, etc.) to draw the patient’s blood and have them ready in the order of their use.