Phlebotomist — tasks, one by one

Identifying patients and labelling samples

Electronic identification and bedside label printing are spreading slowly and help, but people still label and errors remain: a UK national audit found 23% of sites could print a label at the patient's side, and sites using only electronic labelling had 46.9% fewer sample rejections than hand-labelling sites but still reported wrong blood in tube.

One national audit in the UK, observational; it does not measure staff time or adoption elsewhere.

Drawing blood

A robot is now allowed to do the needle work under a phlebotomist's eye: the US FDA authorised an autonomous, ultrasound-guided device for adult outpatients, monitored by a trained phlebotomist who may supervise up to three devices, and in its trial it succeeded on the first stick 94.5% of the time when it could find a vein. Separately, a cleared fingerstick device lets people not trained in phlebotomy collect capillary samples, which moves some work to other staff rather than to machines.

An authorisation and a manufacturer-run trial in adult outpatients; no commercial use has been recorded, and children, inpatients and difficult cases are outside it.

Handling and processing specimens

Inferred: no record found measures how specimen handling outside the laboratory is changing; it is likely to follow how drawing and labelling change.

Inferred without a record on specimen handling; laboratory automation is covered on the laboratory technician's page.

Caring for patients during the draw

The care stays with people: the robot is authorised only for adult outpatients, its labelling must state how often it refers patients back to manual phlebotomy, and a trained phlebotomist must monitor it.

Read from one authorisation; it does not show how patients or phlebotomists experience robot draws in practice.