You see these things a lot, these neat devices which let phlebotomist find veins and draw blood more easily. I and family members have had blood draws somewhat regularly so I often wonder… why don’t they use these things?
I suspect there are a few reasons:
They cost money.
The phlebotomists need to have the skills to do a manual draw anyway.
They break/don’t work sometimes.
I suspect it’s the second issue that is perhaps the most significant. Without 100% market penetration of these devices phlebotomists will need to be confident doing manual draws anyway. It doesn’t change the training required or the expectation that they can do a manual draw. And once you’ve got confident doing a manual draw isn’t too bad1.
It feels like one of those painful situations where a clearly technologically superior approach doesn’t work because of social, political issues. This happens a lot in healthcare.
RCE Technologies use infra-red sensing of blood in veins, but for a much more focused application.
The device is strapped to a patients wrist, and according to patents it uses infrared absorbance to measure components in blood:
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