No one likes to take a shot, and if there’s one thing we hate more than taking a shot is having to take more shots because someone missed your vein. But as any doctor will tell you, finding a vein is sometimes difficult – here’s where VeinViewer enters the stage.
Designed by Memphis-based company Christie Medical Holdings, the device finds veins up to 0.4 inches deep (1 cm) in real time and then projects them onto the skin. The machine projects light onto the vein which is then projected back to the skin, either in ‘normal mode’ or in ‘detail mode’, which highlights more detailed patterns and helps practitioners locate the best place to put the needle in.
“Only VeinViewer can provide pre-, during and post-access benefits throughout the entire vascular access procedure,” said Christie Medical Holdings’ president, George Pinho. “It is also the only device of its kind that has been shown through clinical studies to increase both first-stick success and patient satisfaction by up to 100 per cent while reducing medically unnecessary [catheter] lines by over 30 percent.”
I couldn’t find a price tag for this technology, but if it’s affordable, then I’d expect it (or something like this) to become relatively common in hospitals.