Why is blood drawn from the side of the arm rather than the vein?

[Anonymous]

Like when myblood was being drawn it was drawn from the side of my arm instead of my inner elbow. Why? Why was it drawn from the artery and not from the vein?

[RasmusAiken]

Several possibilities. A person drawing blood from the right arm from the left side of the table will draw your arm across your body and the vein on the side of the arm is in best position. The other possibility is that arterial blood was drawn to check "blood gases" to determine your blood oxygen, CO2, pH etc.

[Asker]

The drawn blood was being given.

[Bubble_stubble]

The body has many veins, including the side of your arm. I'm guessing it was drawn there because your forearm veins were more prominent. I'm a paramedic and whenever I have to IV someone 90% of the time I'll actually go for the top of the hand simply because it's easier.

[Asker]

Could they have drawn arterial blood?

[Bubble_stubble]

no, not unless you were specifically going in for a blood test that required blood drawn from your arteries. The chances of it being drawn there accidentally are very slim as most of our arteries are nowhere close to the surface of our skin.

[laurapalmer]

Your arteries are in the center of your arm, so it's most likely not being drawn from an artery (there's too much pressure). You have veins everywhere. The vein they drew it from was probably the most prominent/biggest therefore easier than the one inside your elbow.

[Asker]

Couldn't it have been drawn from the brachial artery?

[Asker]

Then why haven't they been drawing blood from the side all these years?

[Asker]

Rather than the center

[laurapalmer]

I suppose it could've been a brachial artery but typically you wouldn't draw from an artery. I'm not a doctor though so I'm just answering based on my previous experiences.

[Joeman1252]

Because artery blood has nutrients in it