How to Repair a Lancet Wing

Phlebotomy is the medical procedure centering on getting blood from a vein for analysis. In this process you use quite a few tools, one being a lancet. A lancet is a needle with wings for holding it steady, so it ends up being called a "butterfly." The main difference is that the butterfly needle is very flexible with its attached tubing, to get to hard-to-reach or rolling veins.

Things You'll Need

• Butterfly needle
• Tape
• Sharps container

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Instructions

• 1

  Open a lancet needle packet and if one of the wings is broken, determine if you can still use it. Nothing about the wing of the lancet has anything to do with the needle or anything that enters the vein or pierces the skin. The wings simply make it easier to grip the needle for entering the vein.

• 2

  Repair with regular tape, if you strongly feel you cannot use it without repairing the wing in some way. The wings are predominantly a convenience for holding the needle and then a big part of closing the needle shaft safely. Both can be done most times without any wing repair.

• 3

  Discard if the wing is too badly manufactured or too broken to be repaired without any problem for the patient. Pull the plastic shaft up and cover the needle and dispose in a sharps container. If you can pull up the plastic, just carefully discard in the sharps container. A sharps container is the discard receptacle for all sharps used in a hospital, doctor's office and anywhere else needles are being used.