MacRumors 2024 Blood Drive!

[headlessmike]

It would be nice if other donation centers adopted the OrSense device too. Doctors no longer use leeches for bloodletting (as far as I know!), and maybe we could eliminate the finger-stick bloodletting as well!

How common is the finger-sticking? I give blood regularly and they've never used my finger. Instead the blood is sampled directly from the needle in my arm at the beginning of the process.

 

[hallux]

How common is the finger-sticking?

Every time I've donated it's been part of the health screening prior to the main stick. They don't want to use the main supplies if the hemoglobin check comes back too low.

 

[hallux]

Mark me down for another whole blood @Doctor Q

The new intake process is so nice!! Seemed like it was faster, no finger prick for the hemoglobin check. I was in the building for maybe 45 minutes. Donation itself took less than 5 minutes.

 

[Doctor Q]

Mark me down for another whole blood @Doctor Q

Considered yourself marked.

I'm glad the process is simpler now. Sometimes the interview takes almost as long as the donation!

 

[Neil.gtis]

Next donation February 2025

 

[Timelordprime]

How common is the finger-sticking? I give blood regularly and they've never used my finger. Instead the blood is sampled directly from the needle in my arm at the beginning of the process.

Well, for almost 20 years, we didn't have to do it in plateletpheresis because the staff had an on-site blood lab that checked the samples for hemoglobin levels. Now we have to get poked in a finger to test hemoglobin levels.

In 2023, for cost savings, Canadian Blood Services in the Toronto Region removed the on-location labs and centralized them. Meaning, that the nurses no longer knew, during the donation process, the platelet count, and active hemoglobin count.