Taking Blood Using ’Push-Pull’ Method Gets Accurate Results With Fewer Pokes, Penn Study Shows

Thursday, November 9, 2017 - A new study by University of Pennsylvania veterinary researchers has found that blood samples collected from an intravenous catheter using a special "mixing" technique are as accurate as those collected via venipuncture, in which a needle is used to access the vein directly. Unlike alternative techniques for drawing blood, the mixing method, better known as the "push-pull" technique, requires no "presample" to be discarded, preventing unnecessary blood loss. It also has the potential to greatly reduce the number of needle pricks a patient receives during a hospital stay, lessening pain to the patient and trauma to the blood vessel. The research was led by Ciara A. Barr , a lecturer in Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine , who was an anesthesiology resident at the time of the study. The senior author on the work is Deborah C. Silverstein , an associate professor in the Department of Clinical Studies at Penn Vet. Their coauthors included Giacomo Gianotti, Carly E. Graffeo and Kenneth J. Drobatz, all of Penn Vet. The study was published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association .