Yeah, but not for my INR ; it was for something else. Sounds like the person who drew your blood was unskilled. My veins are totally scarred up but a good tech should be able to work around that no problem. Is there a lab closer that you can use going forward?

I'm guessing whoever did your draw put it in the wrong tube... if it went in any tube but the one with the purple cap it would have had an additive that would have messed up the sample. The last thing you want is an INR reading from blood in a heparin tube! I guess I'm lucky, they did my INR with a finger prick at my doctors office.

That's a big nuisance!!! Yuck.

I've over the years I've had mistakes with blood draws from
1. the lab lost the sample
2. wrong tube(s) (even though I gave the tube colors to the tech)
3. insufficient blood
4. blood not refrigerated or centrifuged (or blood refrigerated and centrifuged) even though I'd given them the instructions for the draw.
5. needed to repeat (probably because they dropped the tube in the lab)

With Lyme disease blood was constantly being siphoned out of our veins for lab draws and most of us learned to keep the instructions in our wallets but they still managed to screw it up.

Truth be told though, there were many more successful draws than flubs.

(You can request to NOT have that phlebotomist again. Some just never get the hang of a painless poke)

In spite of all my pokes and having a PICC line in for 17 months my veins still stand up and say 'howdy'. I'm a phlebotomists dream patient! My one claim to fame.

Oh, and forgot to ask----- is there a reason for a blood draw and not a finger stick?

Before I could monitor at home both the coag clinic and my doctor did finger sticks (unless they were performing a check on the equipment, which wasn't often.)

RMB -That's the closest lab to me. I think I'll drive the extra few minutes the other way tomorrow and use a different lab. They have a more consistent staff that's been around for a while. The lab I went to today seems to have gone through a staff change over the last month and a half.
Jenner-I had a CBC and inr done today. CBC goes into purple inr into light blue cap vial. Inr is always in the light blue for us
Cave-from what I've been told my clinic doesn't do finger pricks because they've only just started in October 11' so it hasnt even been around a year yet. all dr offices use gamma dynacare here for lab work I'm really not impressed with the health care system here in SK though. I contacted my old gp in Alberta to get answers about my PE as drs here have little experience with PEs to answer questions

I don't do finger pricks either. My current doc's office doesn't do them, and there are a couple of labs that do but they're not convenient at all for me.

I've been getting vein pokes for my INR for the majority of time I've been on warfarin (almost 5 years) and I can only have blood drawn out of my right arm due to having large DVTs in my other arm (my doc doesn't want blood draws out of that arm any longer). So you can imagine how scarred my veins are in my right arm and yet they manage to get a full tube every time. Blood flows if the person does the draw correctly. I alternate pokes between my inner elbow and the top of my hand. Even in my scarred veins, they can still do blood draws without an issue. I like the Techs at my current lab because they are very adept at what they do, quick, not hesitant, etc. But in the past, I've had complete tools do my blood draws over the years and I gotta say, Ive had some real pissy pants who make all kinds of excuses for not being able to get blood or find a vein, like I must be dehydrated, or there's too much scarring, or my veins roll. I have MAN SIZE veins in my arm. I mean, you can't miss 'em so just aim and shoot for crying out loud. There were times when I wanted to snatch the needle from the Tech's hand and just say, for god's sake, give me the freakin' needle and let me do it myself.

Definitely go to the other lab. Things can happen when they're doing labs for so many people on a given day, so I get occasionally losing results, dropping tubes, contaminating a specimen etc. But a Tech should know how much blood is needed when they're drawing it, what tubes to use etc.

@clarkjulie

I've always wondered why some doctors do only vein draws and not finger pricks.

Is it that much better? And if it is----- then why aren't there mandates for using just vein draws for INR tests.

The bits I've read about finger pricks (and home monitor kits) say that the results are very close to a vein draw. My doctor's office does a vein draw sometimes when they're checking on the performance of their finger prick monitor. So far---- the same.

Could it be because there's more profit for the doctor with a vein draw? (Don't yelp!!!! These things happen but I'm it's not the norm)

In Canada maybe everything is different.

I realize you're not directing this to me, but I'll throw my 2 cents in anyway

Might depend on the volume of their patients who are on warfarin. Is it worth purchasing a machine if you don't have a lot of patients on warfarin. Also, I used to go to a doc who did do finger pricks and her machine was constantly out of commission, being fixed, etc. I had a vein draw and a finger prick draw on the same day and the results were different. So I think that can be an issue, but I don't think it's a massive problem. Or maybe because some doctor's billing staff actually bill a finger prick in the office as an office visit which is expensive, and ridiculous. Also, sometimes you have to make an appointment to get into a doc to do a finger prick where at a lab you can go any time the lab is open.

I actually think it's a good thing that there are different ways to go about getting one's INR tested

I was quite surprised when my bills started arriving and I found out that the finger prick cost 3 times as much as the lab draw for me. I believe this is because they count the finger prick as a Nurse visit and the labwork didn't involve anything more than stopping by the lab.

I was most surprised because the Nurse was very apologetic that the finger prick wasn't working for me. I assumed she was concerned about either the discomfort or the cost. However, I find the finger prick more painful and now that I know it's more expensive, I don't think I'll go that route again...unless I end up doing any sort of home monitoring.

**** I found out that the finger prick cost 3 times as much as the lab draw for me. I believe this is because they count the finger prick as a Nurse visit and the labwork didn't involve anything more than stopping by the lab.
****

I never thought of that---- it makes complete sense!

This is an example of what I meant when I said providers sometimes bill for it as if it is an office visit. It's a good idea to double check costs because sometimes convenience isn't always the least expensive.

Well I went to the other lab. No issues finding a vein and she even used the smallest needle for my draw so I wouldn't bruise more then I already did from yesterday's draw. I'm thinking that will be my new lab to go to.
Good thing I went in today though for my repeat guess my inr is back up to 3.6 when my last 2wks ago was 2.6 so guess who's back on weekly draws. Lol felt nice to skip a week though.

Health care in canada is free so I don't know how much of any a dr gets for sending me to a lab compaired to getting my blood in office. I've never had to pay to see a dr or specialist no matter how many appointments I make with them or for any of my tests be it blood X-ray ultrasound or the like. Hospital stays are free unless you request a private room but more often then not you get out in either a semi or private room anyways. The "ward" rooms are starting to get weaned out on most floors or if they are still bring used its rare all 4beds are full. - dentist and optometrist charges though but they can be covered with health benefits

I sympathize! I agree with RMB that the person doesn't sound like the most skilled. I was getting a tube of my blood drawn to check INR for a long time then finally found a doctor that has another device that looks like something for diabetics? Now I just go in and they prick my finger, put a drop of blood on the little pad (like a pregnancy test) and the INR and some other number comes up on the screen like when you take your temperature. SO much better and less evasive then the blood draw, quick, less painful, especially when they don't know what they are doing!

You would not believe it, a drop of blood is all they need, not a vile!!! Anyway, something to look into to make life easier?

I finish my treatment at the end of September so I'll suck it up and keep going to the lab for inr checks. It hard to find a gp right now to take my "case" on so searching for another dr might take as long as is left for my treatment. Once off I will go through testing. In the event I do have to continue With warfarin I'll seek out other possibilities for monitoring such as the finger pricks