Venipuncture

In medicine, venipuncture or venepuncture is the process of obtaining intravenous access for the purpose of venous blood sampling (also called phlebotomy) or intravenous therapy. In healthcare, this procedure is performed by medical laboratory scientists, medical practitioners, some EMTs, paramedics, phlebotomists, dialysis technicians, and other nursing staff. In veterinary medicine, the procedure is performed by veterinarians and veterinary technicians. It is essential to follow a standard procedure for the collection of blood specimens to get accurate laboratory results. Any error in collecting the blood or filling the test tubes may lead to erroneous laboratory results. Venipuncture is one of the most routinely performed invasive procedures and is carried out for any of five reasons: to obtain blood for diagnostic purposes; to monitor levels of blood components; to administer therapeutic treatments including medications, nutrition, or chemotherapy; to remove blood due to excess levels of iron or erythrocytes (red blood cells); or to collect blood for later uses, mainly transfusion either in the donor or in another person. Blood analysis is an important diagnostic tool available to clinicians within healthcare. Blood is most commonly obtained from the superficial veins of the upper limb. The median cubital vein, which lies within the cubital fossa anterior to the elbow, is close to the surface of the skin without many large nerves positioned nearby. Other veins that can be used in the cubital fossa for venipuncture include the cephalic, basilic, and median antebrachial veins. Minute quantities of blood may be taken by fingerstick sampling and collected from infants by means of a heelprick or from scalp veins with a winged infusion needle. Phlebotomy (incision into a vein) is also the treatment of certain diseases such as hemochromatosis and primary and secondary polycythemia. A 1996 study of blood donors (a larger needle is used in blood donation than in routine venipuncture) found that 1 in 6,300 donors sustained a nerve injury.

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Venipuncture

Blood test

A blood test is a laboratory analysis performed on a blood sample that is usually extracted from a vein in the arm using a hypodermic needle, or via fingerprick. Multiple tests for specific blood components, such as a glucose test or a cholesterol test, are often grouped together into one test panel called a blood panel or blood work. Blood tests are often used in health care to determine physiological and biochemical states, such as disease, mineral content, pharmaceutical drug effectiveness, and organ function.

Blood donation

A blood donation occurs when a person voluntarily has blood drawn and used for transfusions and/or made into biopharmaceutical medications by a process called fractionation (separation of whole blood components). Donation may be of whole blood, or of specific components directly (apheresis). Blood banks often participate in the collection process as well as the procedures that follow it. Today in the developed world, most blood donors are unpaid volunteers who donate blood for a community supply.

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