I saw an article mentioning a new technology for drawing blood work and was wondering if anyone had any information/experience with it. I lost the article before I could search so I’m wondering . . .
I am a HARD draw. Every three months we deal with deep rolling vein. I can’t go to a stat care or anywhere but the hospital outpatient lab. No one at any of the area places can hit success. Need that experience! I know all the tricks == drink water, keep my arms warm, etc. Let’s just say I get to meet at least technicians every visit and they know me by name. (They probably see me coming and draw straws to see who gets me this time – lol)
ANYWAYS – I saw a product that was a small “patch” placed on the arm and they could image the good/available veins. It didn’t have a lot of information, really just a mention, but looked pretty darn cool – It didn’t look very big – like maybe 2x3 inches? Wasn’t a great picture. Has anyone out there seen anything like this? If so, I’d sure like to find out if its available to purchase, how much or who is using them . . .
Thank you!!!
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Hey Marcia,
Haven’t yet heard about that patch/
device to make a blood draw go smoother. I truly hate any nasty needle piercing my vein. My arm veins are hidden and I let out many a scream as a phlebotomist tried, unsuccessfully to get a draw.
That being said, with use of a butterfly (small gage needle used on babies, and yes, I allude to bring among the world’s biggest babies), they have been able to get the blood volume needed. It’s a somewhat slower process since they attach tiny tubing.
This is done using veins on the side of my wrist/lower arm. My eyes are, of course, shut tight, my other hand clenched as tight as can be. And I ask every 10 seconds, “do you have enough, now?”
The good part is that they usually only have to stick me once.
Hope this might help!
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I hadn’t heard about the patch, but it sound cool. When I went to the hospital this last time they used a vein finder. It wasn’t a patch. It was something more like this: https://www.christiemed.com/products/veinviewer-models I have no idea how much this thing runs.
There are smaller hand-held ones available. They aren’t cheap though. The AccVein Vein Viewing System runs close to $5,000.
Of note, the infrared projector doesn’t work well over tattoos 
The ink messes with it. Thankfully my forearm tattoo stops shy of the crease of my elbow!
They use butterflies on my hands successfully – been there and done that and totally understand what you are saying about the time/wait to see if we have enough. I have those deep and rolling veins and let them try the ‘deep dive’ first and see if they get lucky first. I have a nice vein on my arm on the outside – my tech has me hold my arm up sometimes to hit it – what stories we could tell!! The ER has also gone ‘shopping’ in my shoulder area (yikes, no fun).
Thank you for answering! I’m going to keep on looking and keep on smiling and keep on visiting the hospital girls ever 3 months – (I always tip with chocolate. I mean, you tip waiters, right? I always leave them with a bag of hershey’s kisses because I appreciate their patience)
happy days!
Thanks! We’re always looking for a kinder moment in getting the blood work done. I wonder if anyone is doing research in this area? I’ll have to share that with my youngest son, he has 9 tats and teases me to go with him next time – I’d have to pick my location carefully!
Happy Day!
My doctor always takes my blood pressure first then leaves the cuff on and this causes my veins to pop us nicely, otherwise they can play hide 'n seek with the techie.
We have our lab draws done by butterfly also. They tell us to drink water,too. Nancy
I have always had the collapsing vein thing at standard sites,
I have found the top of the hand works better for me. Not much pain, blood flow good
FOUND IT!!! It is called Vein Viewer and its not exactly a patch – it LOOKS like a patch but is actually creates an image (looks sort of like black light) It is by Christie Medical Holdings and when you go to the website there is all sorts of info. It looks like a hand held device that is used to scan and then visualize where the vein is. Looks cool!!! I asked for information. I have NO IDEA if it is available for individual purchase or if I can just get all the info and send it on to my outpatient lab to see if they would be interested – maybe get donations to give one to them they could use on ME!!! ha!
Anyways – I finally found it. I love seeing that we are making inroads to making the process easier on us pincushions out there.
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