OSCE revision help

Re: OSCE revision help

eveleen — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:59:40 GMT

I failed when I picked a blue needle, told I should of picked the green

Re: OSCE revision help

steph290208 — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 11:38:16 GMT

We use green needle on cats in practice, makes for a better sample. Also with cats that come in regularly and we know they are bad, if a blue is used the cat isn't any better, and it ends up being haemolysed.

I'm also taking practicals in december and asked for this to be clarified because someone at the college told me blue. I got told that it is definately a green needle and that whoever thinks blue at the college and is telling students blue needs to be told otherwise. The person who told me green is an RCVS examiner, so I trust the information she is giving me is correct.

Re: OSCE revision help

Vicky RVN — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 22:34:03 GMT

I used green 5/8 for my exam and passed. I always pick green in practice, better sample quality.

Re: OSCE revision help

Jenny Cook RVN — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 21:36:34 GMT

weve been practising this at college and we were told to pick green 21G 5/8" with a 2.5ml syringe. Reason of having bigger gauge is to prevent a haemalysed sample from drawing back to much.

Re: OSCE revision help

NJ_VN — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:06:27 GMT

We've been told by our uni to pick the blue in the exam, but in practice i use either!

Re: OSCE revision help

Rachael_24 — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:00:48 GMT

I would use a 5/8" green because you should use the biggest needle gauge that is suitable to reduce the risk of haemolysis.

Re: OSCE revision help

Victoria Nielsen RVN — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:45:29 GMT

I use 5/8" 23G Blue hypodermic needles for taking blood from a cat. 21G x 5/8" is overkill for them. I use 5/8" 21G for dogs.

Re: OSCE revision help

Liz Owen — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:24:08 GMT

Oops, yes, I meant that we use 5/8" for cats and 1" for dogs but knowing my paniced brain I may have picked the 1"! The exam is mostly a horrible blur for me so it's quite likely!

Glad you agree about the 5/8" green though, I was starting to worry.

Re: OSCE revision help

Steph Worsley — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:16:10 GMT

eeeeek, sorry but I would never use a 1" needle on a cat for bloods!

we use a 5/8" 23g (blue) but I would have thought either blue or green would have been acceptable, because like you said the labs say to use the biggest needle possible and technically you can use a green on a cat, could it be that you picked a 1" needle rather than the 5/8 as that is definately overkill for the cats