r/BeAmazed • u/New_Libran • Jun 10 '25

Skill / Talent Chinese nurses use this technique called "flying needle" to draw blood

Blink and miss it!

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u/darylandme Jun 10 '25

Can someone please explain what is happening and why it is amazing? Thanks!

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u/VortexMagus Jun 11 '25

Here is an article on the technique that was posted further up:
https://www.shine.cn/news/metro/2401231099/

Essentially, putting in a needle to catch a vein is one of the more common and difficult parts of nursing (and being a paramedic).

For patients with small, elastic, or difficult to find veins, even experienced nurses can struggle a lot with them, necessitating multiple pokes, bruising, and quite a bit of pain as nurses attempt to find the vein and miss it etc.

This is a technique that is very fast and pain-free, which is good for the patient. It also has none of the big ceremonial leadup that many nurses use today are trained with - often they'll use a tourniquet to block off blood flow and make the veins more prominent. They'll also feel around for a vein and use their finger to hold the vein steady so the needle goes directly in.

I think most nurses would kill to learn this technique properly. It requires a specific kind of needle, a whole fuckton of practice, and an almost psychic-like knowledge of where the patient's veins are.