Using heat to reduce blood collection time in pediatric clients

Several states now require that all children attending day care, nursery schools, and kindergarten have evidence of a blood lead screening. Obtaining the requisite blood sample can be difficult because of inherent problems with pediatric clients. The purpose of this research was to explore if the application of heat to promote vasodilation affected finger stick collection time in pediatric clients. Subjects, ages 2 through 6 years, were randomly assigned to a control or intervention group (N = 63). For the intervention group, heat was applied for 1 min by placement of an infant heel warmer on the hand selected for the finger stick. A stopwatch was used to measure the time of blood collection in both the control and intervention groups. A two-tailed t test revealed statistical significance between the two groups (p = .008). Findings suggest the application of heat to promote vasodilation does reduce collection time in pediatric clients. Nurse practitioners may use this intervention to facilitate collection of blood samples in pediatric clients.