Venepuncture versus heel prick for the collection of the Newborn Screening Test

Abstract

This study compared the heel prick with venepuncture of a superficial vein on the dorsum of the hand to collect the Newborn Screening Test. Midwives at two different maternity centres collected the blood samples, with midwives at each centre using only one of the two blood collecting approaches being studied. The time taken to collect the Newborn Screening Test and four crying parameters (amount of crying, percentage of crying, length of first cry and cry latency) were measured. Thirty-six infants were assigned to either a control or experimental group and their Newborn Screening Tests were recorded on audiotape. Analysis of the results found a shorter sample collection time, length of crying, duration of the first cry, a lower percentage of crying, and increased cry latency for the venepuncture group; all significant at the P < 0.05 level. These findings suggest that venepuncture should be the preferred technique for midwives to collect the Newborn Screening Test.