Performing Venepuncture – Needle and Syringe

Venepuncture is performed when a person needs blood drawn for analysis. The drawing of blood from a vein can be carried out in different ways, but the most common are via:

• winged infusion set
• vacuum blood collection (barrel)
• syringe and needle.

The following procedure concentrates on the syringe and needle method. This is most commonly used when a client has small veins that may possibly collapse with the more preferred vacuum (barrel) method.

It is important to note that adequate training is essential to complete this task successfully and to ensure that the specimen taken has not been compromised, resulting in inaccurate test results. Nurses will need to comply with industry policies, National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (second edition), organisational guidelines and procedural direction to safely perform this procedure.