When the doctor/nurse takes blood from you, why do they try to find a vein, not an artery? And also why is this mainly done on the arm as opposed to other parts of the body?
In: Biology
Veins are directly under the skin, arteries are not. Also it would be harder to deal with the bleeding. On ICU’s there are arterial catheters which measure the blood pressure and allow you to take blood from patients. The blood from an artery enables you to monitor the blood gases. Arms are easy to reach and it’s not as painful. I also have taken blood from someone’s feet for example. With baby’s you take it from the head.
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