Comments on: Bloodbot Stabs You Like A Pro

By: CK

CK — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 20:08:11 +0000

You guys are lucky. Both my father and I have stealth veins. It’s rare that anyone, even a phlebotomist, gets me in less than three tries. Usually they need to use the big needle and poke around like a plumber snaking a drain. I had this Carribean lady once, she got me with the little needle on the first try… I asked for her business card!

By: John

John — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:57:44 +0000

First thing I thought of was Levin’s This Perfect Day. Line up, get your regular injections. Will this thing be run by UniComp?

By: Marunya

Marunya — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:33:08 +0000

I’ll never trust a robot insert to my viens.

By: Snake Oil Baron

Snake Oil Baron — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:15:22 +0000

Repeated needle injections in veins over time can build up scare tissue. I used to use my “good” arm for donating blood but when they noticed some scare tissue they recommended alternating arms.

In over fifty donations I have only had a couple of misses. You’re more likely to have them miss a vein when having blood drawn for testing because they often get new people to do it. Here in Canada the Lab tech phlebotomists are usually better at it than the nurses due to more training – they also know how the blood is handled for different tests so there is less likely to be a need for a new sample because of timing or light exposure or using the wrong anticoagulant tube.

I had heard about using infrared cameras and a projector to show humans where the veins are but maybe this could be integrated into the robot to improve accuracy. One problem is that the robot would need to have an abort switch with a human on hand if the patient experienced tingling – it is possible to hit a nerve – usually damage is not permanent but…

Human phlebotomists hit arteries on occation. The key is to not let the patient see you go white when the blood fills up the tube in rapid spirts and to have them hold pressure on the site significantly longer than usual.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:02:07 +0000

I’m lucky to have good veins, but I think I’d rather have a human. That way I can tell them to stop when they get it wrong.

By: Evan Ackerman

Evan Ackerman — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:23:25 +0000

Across all patients. They say that on each patient the test, “was not repeated, so as to avoid multiple scarring.”

Doesn’t sound too promising when they put it THAT way.

By: Jan Schmidt

Jan Schmidt — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:07:05 +0000

hrmn – 78% of the time… across all patients, or on any given patient?

I’m a blood donor, and I’ve *never* had a nurse miss the vein. 78% sounds like a 1 in 4 chance of missing to me.. still way too high.