Phlebotomy supplies and other clinical products for use in collecting patient blood samples.

Blood specimen collection and handling supplies are designed to help obtain capillary, arterial, and venous blood samples for clinical monitoring and diagnostic testing and drug testing.

Capillary blood specimens are collected via fingerstick or heelstick. Heelsticks are typically performed on infants. Fingersticks may be used when only a small amount of sample is needed or when a phlebotomy is contraindicated or difficult to perform.

Products used for capillary blood collection include manual and automatic lancets, plain or anticoagulant-coated microtubes, micro collection tubes, and alcohol wipes, gauze, and other miscellaneous supplies.

Venous blood samples may be collected using a needle attached to a syringe to which manual suction is applied. Blood samples may also be collected directly into evacuated (vacuum) tubes, which contain a variety of anticoagulants and other additives required for various tests. The vacuum facilitates blood collection and automatically draws the samples into the tubes.

Products for venous blood collections include needles, syringes, evacuated blood tubes, blood tube holders, butterfly or winged collection sets, and other supplies like tourniquets, alcohol swabs, gauze pads, and bandages.

Arterial blood samples are for blood gas determinations. These specimens are typically obtained via catheter or using a needle and a pre-heparinized syringe. Specific arterial sampling kits are also available.

Collecting blood specimens for drugs of abuse testing may require special procedures and products that track temperature and record chain-of-custody.