Drawing blood through a central venous catheter

Although the safest and most accurate way to draw blood for lab work is via peripheral veins, blood may also be drawn through a central venous catheter (CVC), if the patient's peripheral veins are no longer accessible. Moureau presents several guidelines for safety and accuracy in drawing blood using a CVC, which include the basics of maintaining patency by flushing all CVCs before and after access and infusion, as well as the details of the discard and push-pull methods.