It is known in the art to use an apparatus to enhance the visual appearance of the veins and arteries in a patient to facilitate insertion of needles into those veins and arteries. This application discloses a number of inventions that add additional data collection and presentation capabilities to a handheld vein enhancement apparatus and a set of processes for the collection of blood and the delivery of IV medicines that use the handheld device to mediate the process.

A fluid sampling device and a method is provided for collecting body fluid samples such as blood without the intervention of medically trained personnel. The body fluid sampling device having a sample containment chamber made of a material having a thermal inertia permitting the maintenance of sample temperature over a known period of time. Optionally an isolating cover or sleeve may slide in place by a mechanism triggered by thermal contraction of an element after the device has reached a sufficiently low temperature in a patients refrigerator. Associated methods are provided to ensure hermetic transport of the collected body fluid sample to an analysis lab. Also disclosed is a device and app combination for drug or vaccine injection, the app including means to allow for verification of the patient's ID and/or the particular device used. The device my be equipped with geo-localization and long-range communication capabilities.

Described here are meters and methods for sampling, transporting, and/or analyzing a fluid sample. The meters may include a meter housing and a cartridge. In some instances, the meter may include a tower which may engage one or more portions of a cartridge. The meter housing may include an imaging system, which may or may not be included in the tower. The cartridge may include one or more sampling arrangements, which may be configured to collect a fluid sample from a sampling site. A sampling arrangement may include a skin-penetration member, a hub, and a quantification member.

A system for confirming acquisition of a fluid sample is provided. The system includes a wearable electronic device configured to be worn by a user. The device has a housing, at least one imaging sensor associated with the housing, a data transmission interface for sending data to or receiving data from an external electronic device, a microprocessor for managing the at least one imaging sensor and the data transmission interface, and a program for acquiring and processing images acquired by the at least one imaging sensor. The system further includes a sampling device for collecting a fluid sample in a sample container and at least one identification tag attached to or integrally formed with the sampling device or sample container. The at least one identification tag includes or is associated with a tracking code.

A grinder (220) is provided for use in a method of processing a piece of lateral flow paper, comprising a grinder body (222) defining a grinder storage volume (226) with a top opening for accessing the grinder storage volume and one or more through holes (228) providing a fluid connection through the grinder body into the grinder storage volume, wherein the grinder body further comprises one or more grinding protrusions (229) at an outer surface of the grinder body. Furthermore, a sample container (200) is provided for storing a blood sample provided on a piece of lateral flow paper, comprising a sample container body with a base part, a cylindrical wall extending from the base part and defining a storage volume with an opening for accessing the storage volume, wherein the base part comprises one or more protrusions (209) extending into the storage volume.

This disclosure relates to a system and method for drawing blood from a user by skin puncture instead of venous puncture and storing it for analysis. The system includes a receptacle configured to engage an area of skin of the user at a blood draw location and store blood drawn from the user; a lancet device disposed within the receptacle configured to puncture the skin of the user at the blood draw location; a vacuum device configured to reduce a pressure within the receptacle such that the skin at the blood draw location is drawn into the receptacle before the lancet device punctures the skin, and to enhance blood flow while blood is drawn from the user; and a housing configured to house the receptacle, the lancet device, and the vacuum device. The receptacle, the lancet device, and the vacuum device may be modular and removably coupled with the housing.

A needle guide assembly for inserting a needle into the body of a patient in order to access a subcutaneous target, such as a vessel, is disclosed. In one embodiment, the needle guide assembly comprises a needle guide body that is configured to at least indirectly and removably attach to an image producing device, such as an ultrasound probe. The needle guide body defines at least first and second elongate guide channels. Each guide channel defines a unique insertion angle with respect to a longitudinal axis of the ultrasound probe. Further, each guide channel is configured to accept needles of differing gauges. In other embodiments other needle guide assemblies are disclosed that include multiple guide channels for inserting a needle at a variety of insertion angles into the patient's body. Related methods are also disclosed. In yet other embodiments, needle guide assemblies including needle stop features are disclosed.

Described here are meters and methods for sampling, transporting, and/or analyzing a fluid sample. The meters may include a meter housing and a cartridge. In some instances, the meter may include a tower which may engage one or more portions of a cartridge. The meter housing may include an imaging system, which may or may not be included in the tower. The cartridge may include one or more sampling arrangements, which may be configured to collect a fluid sample from a sampling site. A sampling arrangement may include a skin-penetration member, a hub, and a quantification member.

A method for inversion counting or phlebotomist monitoring can include identifying, by processing circuitry, whether a blood collection tube is present in image data from a camera situated to capture images of a phlebotomist collecting a sample, in response to identifying the blood collection tube is present in the field of view of the camera based on the image data, identifying whether the blood collection tube includes blood therein, after identifying the blood is present in the blood collection tube, counting, based on the image data, a number of inversions performed on the blood collection tube, and in response to determining the number of inversions performed is less than a required number of inversions, issuing an alert indicating that insufficient inversions were performed.

A method and automated system for processing blood in which the automated system includes a programmable controller, a database, and an interactive display screen for displaying information and receiving operator input. The programmable controller is configured to automatically control the system to perform the method. Upon activation of the system, the screen displays a listing of different blood processing procedures that may be performed using the system. The operator may then input into the controller an identification of a specified blood processing procedure that is to be performed, such that an initial list of parameters that are associated with the specified blood processing procedure are displayed on the screen. The operator may then input into the controller an identification of the parameters that are to populate the display screen during performance of the procedure and indicate a format in which the selected parameters are to be presented on the display screen. The controller then creates a display for the specified blood processing procedure. Current values of the selected parameters in the selected format are displayed on the screen during performance of the specified procedure. The controller automatically saves an image of the display screen periodically during performance of the specified blood processing procedure, and transfers information from the saved images of the display screens to a procedure record form.