I give blood at the local donor center every 12 weeks.
Would I prefer a quiet atmosphere where I don’t have to make awkward small talk with nurses as I clench and unclench my fist for 20 minutes? Yes.
Do I trust a robot to find a vein, insert a needle, and draw blood from my arm without doing any lasting damage? The jury’s still out.
Researchers at Rutgers University created a blood-sampling bot that performed “as well or better than people.”
Like most newfangled medical technology, the device promises quick results and more time for healthcare professionals to spend treating their patients.
At the heart of this unnamed machine is an ultrasound image-guided robot that draws blood from veins. Fully integrated with a centrifuge-based analyzer, the device could be used at home, on the go, or in emergency rooms, clinics, doctors’ offices, and hospitals.
More than 1.4 billion venipunctures—inserting a needle into a vein for a blood sample or IV therapy—are performed annually in the United States.
But, Rutgers pointed out, the simple procedure isn’t always simple, and is among the leading causes of injury to patients and clinicians.
“A device like ours could help clinicians get blood samples quickly, safely, and reliably, preventing unnecessary complications and pain in patients from multiple needle insertion attempts,” lead study author Josh Leipheimer, a biomedical engineering doctoral student at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, said in a statement.
Results from the first human clinical trial of an automated blood drawing and testing robot, published in the journal Technology, were comparable to or exceeded clinical standards.
The overall success rate, according to Rutgers, was 87 percent among 31 participants. For the 25 people whose veins were easy to access, that number jumped to 97 percent.
Future uses could include IV catheterization, central venous access, and dialysis and placing arterial lines.
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