Possible Miscommunication

One day I was drawing blood on a patient. I noticed how anxious he was and had sweaty hands. I asked him if he is okay and he just nodded and looked away. And so, I proceeded. I put the tourniquet on, and told the patient to make a fist, and he did.

While in the middle of the blood draw, I told the patient to open his fist. He was so stiff and kind of shaking. Surprisingly, I saw no reaction from the patient. Paying attention to his fist, I thought maybe he didn’t hear me well because he was so anxious then; and so, I told the patient the same thing, but still no reaction with his fist. While telling the patient to open his fist for the third time, I finally looked at the patient….his MOUTH was open with his eyes tightly closed (can you imagine how he looked?)! ? ?

I can only guess that the patient has been opening his mouth the whole time I’ve been asking him to “open his fist”!  ?

Oh well, we all have our own strengths and weaknesses.

Submitted by:
Hazel Billedo
Medical Technologist/Scientist
Utah, USA