Blood Collection Or Phlebotomy

Introduction

Phlebotomy is a method of making a cut in a vein. Phlebotomy is also called venipuncture .Venipuncture is also the method of taking intravenous access as the purpose of taking venous blood samples. Getting out the blood from the vein is a very difficult task. It requires great care. A person who takes blood from patient’s vein is called a phlebotomist.

Discussion

Why Blood Collection is Important?

There are many reasons for blood collection :

1. Taking a blood sample is very essential for the purpose of diagnosing ,examine and improving the disease and disorder.

2. Sometimes blood samples are also taken to check hemoglobin levels.

3. Taking blood sampling is also very important for checking the values and for examing the morphology of blood components including red blood cells (RBCs), White blood cells (WBCs) and Platelets.

4. Blood sampling is done before donating the blood to anyone .To see the donor blood is compatible with the patient’s blood, and to see that the donor has no disease and that the blood will not be dangerous for the patient .

5. Blood sampling is also important for examing and checking the quatity of different biochemical parameters in the body such as blood sugar level,uric acid, blood gases and colestrol level.

6. Blood sampling is also very important in every test like CBC,LFT, and RFT etc.

Sites of Blood Sampling

1.    Venous Blood Collection : the best positions for venipuncture are usually superficial veins that are in the upper limbs. Because the veins are larger here . In case if the upper limb veins are not felt or not available than other positions may be used for withdrawing blood. Mostly median cubital vein is preferred as it lies between muscles and it is most easy to puncture. Another advantage of selecting the median vein is it does not roll or move beneath the skin. In simple it’s totally safe to puncture. Basili vein runs an artery and a nerve. So puncturing here is a risk of damaging nerve and artery is more .So puncturing basilica vein is more painful. Cephalic vein interacts with the basilica vein through the median cubital vein at the elbow site .Blood moves from smaller veins and drains into cephalic vein. It is used for obese patient.
2.    Artery Blood Sample : the artery is less common position for the blood sampling. The most common cause for getting blood from the artery is arterial blood gas examination. The common puncture position is radial artery at wrist and femoral artery in groin. Blood from artery can also be pulled from arterial catheter.
3.     Capillary Blood sample: the capillary blood sample is needed where only a small amount of blood is required for as in blood glucose examination by glucometer method. The most common of capillary blood sample is finger but it also performed at heels in infants.
4.     Finger blood sampling: the best site for finger sticks is the center of finger pads of 3rd middle and 4th ring finger of non-dominant hand. The tip of the finger should not be used .The side of the finger where there less soft tissue should also be avoided .
5.     Heel blood sampling : the suggested area for collection of blood in newborn baby is heel. Heel stick is a process of collecting blood for child blood test .

Blood Bags

Carl Walter is remembered for inventing the bags for blood collection that are still used in whole the world for collecting and transporting the blood. He discovered blood bag 15 years ago by doing reasonably to finish a critical and delicate method through which the surgeons drew the blood directly from donor to patient through paraffin coated glass tube that were heated over alcohol lanterns. Blood bags are very useful for separation, collecting, storing and transporting the blood.

Conclusion

To sum up, blood collection is used in all medical labs to find out why symptoms appear in a patient. Phlebotomy is the method of getting blood samples from the patient’s vein and examination of a disease that occurs inside the body of the patient .

Reference

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venipuncture
2. https://medcaretips.com/blood-sampling-or-blood-collection-methods/
3. https://www.labpedia.net/anticoagulants-and-preservatives-for-blood-plasma-and-serum/