whats the smallest gauge needle used for CBC?

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Could you use a 25 gauge needle for a CBC draw? I would think it would be to small and damage some of the red blood cells, making the CBC inaccurate.

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Specializes in Newborn ICU, Trauma ICU, Burn ICU, Peds.

Sure you can use a 25g. It's used all the time in peds.

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I am used to using 20's or 21's......and butterflies in Ped's.

Suebird :p

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

boy! are the phlebotomy gods with you today! i happened to run across a really nice website yesterday explaining how to do phlebotomy. i'm sure your question is answered in there because i remember seeing something in there about hemolysis which would be a concern when using a small gauge needle to draw blood. there is a slide show of photographs on how to draw blood and do a fingerstick (the lab version, not for doing a blood glucose) to link into at the site. here is the link. read on!

http://www-medlib.med.utah.edu/webpath/tutorial/phleb/phleb.html

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Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.

Thanks, Daytonite, for a truly awesome resource.

We either use butterflies for our lab draws (21, 23, or 25 gauge) or vacutainer needles (21 or 22gauge).

http://www.homecaredelivered.com/catalog/prod2103.php

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thank you!

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