We hypothesize that peripheral venous catheter used for fluid administration can replace venipuncture blood sampling for selected basic analytes and thus reduce pain in infants under 2 years of age.

Multiple venipunctures in hospitalized children result in physical and emotional distress. Recently, we have found that blood sampling via peripheral venous catheter used for fluid administration in children significantly reduces pain and, except for glucose, can replace venipuncture for determining complete blood count and basic chemistry analytics, including white and red blood cell counts, hemoglobin and hematocrit levels, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin level, red blood cell distribution width, platelet count, mean platelet volume, and sodium, potassium, chloride, and urea levels (Berger-Achituv S, Budde-Schwartzman B. Ellis MH, Shenkman Z. Erez I. Blood Sampling through Peripheral Venous Catheters for Selected Basic Analytes in Children. Pediatrics. In press).

The goal of this study is to investigate whether blood sampling via peripheral venous catheter used for fluid administration can significantly reduces pain and replace venipuncture for determining complete blood count and basic chemistry analytics in infants under 2 years of age.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Infants under 2 years of age.
• Only hemodynamically stable infants.
• Infants with peripheral venous catheter present for less than 72 hours.
• At least 20 mL of fluids have been infused intravenously at the time of blood sampling.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Infants with signs of catheter-related thrombophlebitis.

All infants under 2 years of age, admitted to the Departments of Pediatrics and Pediatric Surgery, Meir Medical Center, who have a functioning peripheral venous catheter and require repeated blood sampling for diagnostic purposes.