The effect of Substituting blood sampling through routine direct venipuncture with intravenous cannulation on the accuracy of hematologic results in children

In pediatric care settings, intravenous cannulation (IVC) is usually needed for diverse purposes. Considering the painfulness and invasiveness of sampling by direct venipuncture (DVP), using a painless and less invasive method would be promising. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the effect of substitution of routine DVP with direct blood sampling through IVC on the accuracy of hematologic results.

This was a cross-sectional study conducted on 5-14-year-old children admitted to the emergency ward of 17th Shahrivar Pediatric Hospital in Rasht, north of Iran. After discarding only one ml of blood, paired-samples were taken from IVC and DVP and analyzed for 30 most frequently requested electrolytes, hematologic, and blood gas tests. The similarity of the obtained results by the two methods indicated the probability of substituting DVP with IVC and was defined by the absence of significant statistical difference (P>0.05).

The comparison between the mean of hematologic factors by two methods showed significant similarity between groups regarding all parameters (P>0.05) except the mean of red blood cell count in the two groups (P<0.05). Assessing the level of electrolytes by two collection methods showed that there was a significant similarity between the mean of all parameters (P>0.05) except for phosphorus (P=.002). Furthermore, assessing the level of electrolytes showed a significant similarity between the potential of hydrogen, partial pressure of carbon dioxide, bicarbonate, and buffer base in the two groups (P>0.05). However, there was a significant difference between partial pressure of oxygen, base excess, and O2 saturation in the two collection methods (P<0.05).

Based on the promising results obtained in this study, it seems that these methods could be interchangeably used, and IVC can be an alternative method for DVP by discarding the minimum amount of blood and less invasiveness in children.