"I was in a patient's room once and witnessed a phlebotomist attempting to do a lab draw from a child with special needs. The child was afraid and uncooperative, and the phlebotomist was becoming irritated and frustrated. She told me she had several other lab draws to complete and didn't have time to deal with this. She asked me to help her restrain the patient so she could get the labs quickly and go on. I knew that protocol said we should never restrain a patient, and I did not feel comfortable doing so. I was also afraid to leave her alone with the patient, so I hit the patient's call button so a nurse would enter the room. The nurse came in and calmed the child enough to obtain the specimen. In the moment, I felt a lot of pressure to do something against policy and my ethics, but I remained calm, stood up for what I believed was right, and quickly got additional help from the nursing staff. After the incident, I reported to my manager what I witnessed and was asked to do because it was important to let someone know she could have harmed the patient."
