Drawing Blood from an Arterial Line
Channel: EmpoweRN
Date: 2023-02-07

Continuing on with our ICU nursing or critical care nursing series, here we have a video showing how to draw blood from an arterial line. These lines are also called A-Lines for short. Basically this is a line that goes directly into the artery, usually the radial artery, but can also be brachial artery, axillary artery or femoral artery.
Here is my last video on how to setup and monitor an arterial line:
https://youtu.be/fHux8cV-Ej4
When drawing blood, the most common mistake that I have seen is not drawing enough waste - which is why I love the VAMP so much! Because it has a collection chamber that collects all of the “waste” which can be delivered directly back to the patient.
Now the reasons for using an arterial line could be to monitor the most accurate blood pressure very closely. Perhaps the patient is on medications known as pressors, which can include these medications: Levophed or norepinephrine, Epinephrine drip, phenylephrine drip or vasopressin drip.
You can also see some patients with the opposite problem, high blood pressure. In this instance, they may be on critical drips to lower the blood pressure, such as nitroglycerin drip, or cardene/nicardipine drip. 
Whether your goal is to lower the blood pressure or raise the blood pressure, the arterial line gives you up to the second accurate blood pressure. It is imperative to monitor these medications carefully, which is why your patient is in critical care… because depending on the sensitivity of the patient to the medications, the blood pressure may quickly rise or lower, causing hemodynamic instability in your patient.
From what I have seen, the most hemodynamicly unstable patients have been our open heart or CABG patients… you honestly have to stare at the blood pressure for the first 2 hours because rises or drops are quite dramatic and scary.
Ok, I hope this video helps!! Please like the video, subscribe to the channel & hit the bell for notifications! See you in the next video!
Xoxo
~Caroline