A blood collection needle is an instrument used for collecting blood samples in the medical inspection process. It consists of a needle and a needle shaft. The needle is located at the head of the needle shaft, and a sheath is slidably connected to the needle shaft. A return spring is arranged between and the initial position of the sheath is located at the head of the needle and the needle shaft.
1. The first generation: Willow needle
It is processed from a whole piece of metal sheet. The needle is 3-4cm long and looks like a willow leaf. The head has a fixed-length needle tip with a length of about 2-3mm. The bottom of the needle tip is enlarged to control the depth of needle insertion. The groove runs from the needle tip to the needle tail. The packaging is simple and easy to be contaminated.
2. Second generation: plastic compression molding needle
It is formed by plastic compression molding, the needle tip is made of stainless steel and other metals, each needle is equipped with a plastic needle cap, and the packaging is more independent. Take off the needle cap before use to prevent contamination, the needle is small, and proper operation will reduce the patient's pain and reduce the patient's psychological pressure; the price is low and can be used once.
The common shortcomings of the first and second generation: strong pain, the size of the wound mainly depends on the experience and professional quality of the clinical laboratory staff, and the patient's wound is too close to the staff's fingers or gloves, there is still the possibility of blood cross-contamination between patients.
3. The third generation: mechanical lancet
Using a mechanical device, the needle adopts an ejection device, which can almost completely pierce the skin with accuracy, speed, moderate depth, and a straight path, which greatly reduces the pain of the patient. It basically solved the problems of strong pain and large wounds of the first two generations of blood collection needles.
The appearance of this generation of blood collection needles is pistol type, pen type, etc. The structure is shown in Figure 1.
4. Fourth generation: laser lancet
Using the powerful energy of the laser, it burns the tissue in an instant and penetrates the skin to form a bleeding point. This blood collection device creates a very small wound, and the depth can be adjusted according to the patient's skin condition (which can be achieved by adjusting the laser intensity). In addition, this blood collection instrument has no actual physical contact with the patient. Even if tiny blood spots are ejected, the cross-contamination of blood can be completely eliminated by replacing the laser emitter, which is a relatively safe blood collection instrument.
Laser lancets have different shapes, ranging from large to small, such as microscopes and cigarette cases, which can be used for outpatient blood collection and bedside blood collection. It's just that during the blood collection process, the laser lancet will make a crackling sound, and at the same time, it will emit a faint smell of burning flesh, which makes some patients feel uneasy.
