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SALT LAKE CITY — Nine-year-old Ping Murdoch has a special friend, a doll, that helps ease his anxiety. Now, a new way of drawing blood is also helping ease his nerves.
Ping has a complex heart condition, which means he's in the hospital a lot. He dreaded blood draws.
"Like shaking, just intense fear," said Kirsten Murdoch, Ping's mother.
It's called PIVO, by Velano Vascular. PIVO is pain-free and avoids repeat needle sticks. Practitioners extract blood using the patient's IV that's already in place.
"It's a little device that goes inside the IV catheter and goes beyond the catheter of the IV and into the vein," said Cassie Weeks, nursing director at Primary Children's Hospital.
Nurses can draw blood when Ping is distracted so he may not even notice, or even while he's sleeping. Health care workers say it's improving patient care for the better.
"I've been a nurse for 38 years and this is one of the best things I've ever seen come about for our patients," Weeks said.
"Rather than have the pokes every morning, they were able to just pull from that, and that to him reduced just his anxiety and fear," Kirsten Murdoch said.
To help Ping cope with treatment, he draws things he hates, like his chest tube. Then, he takes aim and shoots it with his Nerf gun.
Now, blood draws are one less "hate" on his list.
Needle-free blood draws only work in patients ages 5 and up. Nurses also use this method at Dixie Regional Medical Center. The plan is to implement PIVO in all Intermountain Hospitals in the future.
