Vacutainers – a Simple Invention That Has Altered Medicine Forever

A vacutainer is a form of test tube that was first invented in 1947 by Joseph Kleiner. At first known as the Evacutainer, it utilized a special vacuum system, a needle and a test tube to take blood samples from patients.

Kleiner introduced his state of the art development to Becton, Dickson and co., and it was subsequently patented in 1949. It was later re-branded the Vacutainer, as it is still known now.

At the time of its first use, the Vacutainer system had some obvious advantages. It was a lot more convenient for users, it reduced staffing costs noticeably and there were much fewer breakages because the tubes were made from a stronger kind of glass.

The original patenting of the Vacutainer in 1949 coincided with the set-up of Becton, Dickson’s second manufacturing center in the United States. In 1950, the company’s revenues reached upwards of 14 million.

Vacutainers are generally used in the process of drawing blood from a person for tests. When a Vacutainer is used to extract blood from a patient, the blood vessel is punctured by a hypodermic needle. This needle is contained in a plastic tube, which also has a needle on the opposite end that is encased in a plastic holder.

All Vacutainer test tubes have a rubber cap. When the time comes to get blood from the patient the vacutainer is pushed onto the needle in the holder so it pierces the cap. The difference in pressure then draws blood from the patient into the test tube until it is full. The container of blood can then be taken away for examination. If wanted, a new test tube can be pushed onto the needle for a further blood sample.

Sometimes the containers that are used in the Vacutainer system already contain certain substances. These additives generally aid in the testing of blood, or have some other use. For example, a test tube may contain a substance that will help preserve particular elements in the blood, or a substance that helps in separating the blood cells from the serum.

Usually, a Vacutainer container will contain coagulants, anti-coagulants, or contain no additive at all. There are a lot of different kinds of additives used in the process, depending on the cause for the blood examination. If a container with the wrong additive is used, it may render the blood test useless.

Because of this, the test tubes’ caps are color-coded, depending on which type of substance they contain. This color-code system is standardized across all Vacutainer manufacturers to cut out errors.

As well as being color-coded, the Vacutainer containers’ caps can either be opaque or clear. This indicates whether a standard suction level is being utilized (opaque) or, in the case of clear caps, a weaker suction is suitable. Lower suction levels are generally more suitable for smaller blood vessels.

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