¹vacuum collection tube: The brand name "Vacutainer®" was the orginal name given the tube by its registered owner, Becton, Dickinson and Company. Today, the word is used by nurses to sample collection tubes and the needles they are attached to in the blood collection procedure, regardless of brand. According to Wikipedia, the vacuum test tube was invented in 1947 by Joseph Kleiner and acquired by BD to create the BD Vacutainer® System.

²Andrew Stern, SEIU President, October 15,1998, SEIU's Guide to Preventing Needlestick Injuries (PDF)

³Very few states require rigorous training before performing a blood draw, a procedure the CDC called one of the most dangerous invasive procedures that most people ever undergo. This is why passive safety needles are essential.

⁴flashback: The appearence of blood inside a syringe or the link tubing of a winged set, or within the viewing chamber of a flashback needle that indicates the needle tip is properly inside a vein. The link tubing in conventional winged sets needs to be 6"-12" long in order to enable the venapressure to overcome the air pressure in the tubing, allowing blood to flow into the tubing for visual certainty the needle is inside a vein.

 passive safety: Studies are conclusive that safety components that operate in the background, without requiring operator activation work much better than those that require operator activation. While the CDC, OSHA, NIOSH have different definitions of passive safety, OSHA should require passive safety on all sharps used in America. See Amber Mitchell's essay on the importance of passive safety in needles.

 true safety: The basis of all regulations regarding handling tools--whether they be medical instruments or industrial technologies--is that true safety requires never loosing physical control. Danger 1: The design of the "butterfly"® or "winged set" requires releasing control of the needle inserted in the patient in order to attach the sample vial, which is separated from the needle by 6"-12" of link tubing. The procedure is completely unreliable as any sudden patient movement can dislodge the sharp, forcing the operator to grab at the needle to try to bring it under control. This can result in the operator being accidentally stuck with a contaminated needle. Danger 2: Infants and young people are unable to understand the instructions, "Don't move", so when a sudden movement dislodges the unattended needle, another stick in the patient is required to perform the collection procedure. Failure in the procedure requires additional sticks, and for a variety of reasons increases the danger of accidents to both professionals and patients.

Butterfly® is a registered trademark of Abbott Labs.