LFH First in State to Offer Needle-Free Blood Draws

​September 24, 2020 | 2 min. to read

In July, Lake Forest Hospital went live with needle-free blood draws across the entire hospital, expanding an initiative that was launched in 2019 to Maternity and Surgical Services. LFH is the first hospital in the state and only the seventh in the world to adopt this new device. The needle-free blood draw device, called PIVO, enables high-quality blood collection through existing peripheral IV lines, significantly reducing the need for additional needle sticks during an inpatient stay.

Because PIVO facilitates blood collection through existing IV lines, it reduces patient pain, bruising and repeat needle sticks. The FDA-approved needle-free, single-use product temporarily attaches to a peripheral IV catheter. Once blood collection is complete, the device is retracted, removed and discarded.

During the first-phase rollout at LFH, two groups of patients were surveyed about their experience with the device: one group of 300 patients and a second group of 100. The response was overwhelmingly positive.

From 300 patients surveyed:

• 95% reported that they felt nothing during the needle-free draw

From 100 patients surveyed:

• 96% said their overall experience with PIVO was good or excellent
• 97% would recommend PIVO to other patients if they needed blood draws while hospitalized
• 75% said PIVO had a moderate to major positive impact on their overall satisfaction with the hospital experience

 
In addition to enhancing the patient experience, physicians and care teams are also realizing benefits from PIVO. Phlebotomy teams are now able to perform blood collections on each unit as a team, as opposed to one phlebotomist per unit. With collection times scheduled throughout the day, unit care teams can better prepare their patients for blood draws, and the process moves much faster, leading to quicker lab results.  

"Patients really fear that needle stick every morning, especially our most vulnerable patients who have small or fragile veins,” says NMG Vascular Neurologist Richard Bernstein, MD, who is also the Northwestern Medicine Distinguished Physician in Vascular Neurology and medical director of Telehealth. “With PIVO, those patients have one less thing to worry about while they are in the hospital. I'm so glad we can offer it to our patients."

Lab phlebotomists and nurses received training on device use, including a new way of dressing the IV site and the most appropriate locations to insert the IV. To date, LFH has conducted more than 15,000 successful needle-free draws. In the month of August alone, patients were saved from 1,157 needle sticks. By expanding use of the device hospitalwide, LFH offers hospitalized patients a safer and less invasive one-stick process for blood collection and IV fluid transmission.
​
During the LFH expansion phase, Grayslake also transitioned to the PIVO needle-free blood draw device compatible IV setup. This allows patients who are transported from Grayslake to LFH for care to already be eligible for needle-free draws, creating consistency in care between sites. Needle-free blood draws will continue to be evaluated over the coming months for possible systemwide expansion.