Phlebotomy is the process of obtaining a sample of venous or arterial blood from patients from a puncture site or an incision for analyzing and testing depending on the diagnosis or prognosis. Phlebotomy can be a part of patient’s therapeutic regimen to treat certain diseases.
Phlebotomy can be of various types depending on whether the sample drawn from various vessels – vein, artery or a cannulated vessel in the circulatory system. Phlebotomy: venous blood sample – Venipuncture is the procedure to collect venous blood from patients. It is also known as venipuncture or venepuncture, phlebotomy or blood draw. Phlebotomy: arterial blood sample- Arterial blood is drawn from an uncannulated artery to carry out blood gas analysis and to check acid base balance.
Phlebotomy: cannulated vessel is a nursing intervention defined as aspirating a blood sample through an indwelling vascular catheter for laboratory tests Phlebotomy: blood unit acquisition, is a nursing intervention from the Nursing Interventions Classification defined as procuring blood and blood products from donors.
Functions of Phlebotomy Medical Treatment Polycythemia vera is a disorder in which the bone marrow produces excessive number of red cells, is characterized with elevated hematocrit. Phlebotomy treatment is the removal of blood from a vein in a manner similar to a blood donation. Another disorder called Hemochromatosis causes the body to absorb and store too much iron which builds up in the blood to very high levels. Treatment is done by phlebotomy which removes blood the same way it is drawn from donors at blood banks. Pulmonary Edema patients are treated by use of phlebotomy to decrease their total blood volume.
Phlebotomy as pharmacologic intervention Pharmacological drugs like morphine are used to decrease the liquid accumulated in lungs by accumulating blood in capacitance vessels in critical care.
Diagnosis of a disease Laboratory tests on blood are done for diagnostic determination of diseases and Phlebotomy is used as the procedure for collecting blood from donors in blood banks. Physicians make use of laboratory tests to get information about the health and condition of the patients. Blood samples are tested for biochemical, bacteriological and immunological parameters in clinical laboratories.
Screening tests are used to detect a disease when there is little or no evidence that a person has a suspected disease. Diagnostic tests are important when a specific disease is suspected, to verify the disease being suspected and the severity of the disease.
Therapeutic drug monitoring Therapeutic drug monitoring is a branch of clinical chemistry specializing in the measurement of specific medication levels at intervals in blood. Drugs that are monitored tend to have a narrow “therapeutic range” – the quantity required to be effective is not much different from the quantity that causes significant side effects and/or signs of toxicity.
Written by Phlebotomy Training specialist Dr Shahbaz A. Cheema, Course Director for Maxis Healthcare who run NHS Accredited Phlebotomy Training courses for medical and non medical practitioners. Learn the 3 Steps To Become a Phlebotomist
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