Most routine diagnostic tests require a blood sample. Common as it is, this brief procedure is the thing that causes the greatest apprehension among people getting lab tests done.
There are two main sources of this apprehension: 1) the physical one, enduring a needle stick and 2) the emotional one, seeing your blood being removed.
For most people, blood draws are not a problem, just a minor inconvenience. Others feel anxious and need some strategies to help them through the procedure. For a much smaller number of individuals, the physical condition of their veins makes the procedure harder, because their veins are sore from IV therapy, scarred from frequent venipunctures, or just hard to find and use.
In this article, tips on making your blood tests more comfortable and less stressful are offered by several experienced specialists:
Saralyn Pruett, MT(ASCP), a phlebotomy supervisor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the Mayo Foundation in Rochester, Minnesota;
Myra Daly, PT(ASCP), a phlebotomy supervisor, and Joan Kosiek, MT(ASCP)SH, a point-of-care consultant, both of Northwest Community Healthcare in Arlington Heights, Illinois; and
Richard Flaherty, Executive Vice President of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry in Washington, DC.
Information has also been drawn from the book Caregiving: A Step-by-Step Resource for Caring for the Person with Cancer at Home.
This article was last reviewed on November 5, 2008.
This article was last modified on April 8, 2009.
The review date indicates when the article was last reviewed from beginning to end to ensure that it reflects the most current science. A review may not require any modifications to the article, so the two dates may not always agree.
The modified date indicates that one or more changes were made to the article. Such changes may or may not result from a full review of the article, so the two dates may not always agree.
