When equipping a clinic for phlebotomy, what is the number one quality to look for when it comes to the chairs patients will sit in?
Most people would think strength, and probably sanitation features. After all, it needs to support the weight of various patients in a given day and be clean enough to avoid exposure to all sorts of pathogens that could be flying about.
However, that hardly scratches the surface. In fact, your primary concern comes from an unlikely source: The human mind.
Many often overlook the impact of psychological stress in the context of a clinic. This applies to stress both from the perspective of practitioners and patients. A practitioner has a number of patients to attend to (especially in incredibly taxing environments such as the emergency room, or even during a pandemic). Meanwhile, every patient will be experiencing anxiety over their impending blood test for a number of reasons.
A blood sampling chair can play a pivotal role in reducing the impact of stress and ensure extraction goes smoothly. Here are just some of the few ways this is done.
1. A Sense of Safety
Phlebotomy is an invasive process and a lot of anxiety in patients comes from that one fact. It is not always a fear of needles. The idea of getting pricked creates a sense of vulnerability, and it triggers age-old mechanisms in the brain to have the body brace or protect itself.
That is why a chair that is sturdy will be a great help because it provides a sense of safety. The feeling of vulnerability is dampened by the feeling of being secured in your seat, without the extra anxiety of further harm.
This requires a chair to be strong enough to support varying weights, and have the endurance to keep holding up those weights over the years.
2. Movement and Accessibility
If you have heard of ergonomics before, then you should know that movement and accessibility best describe it as a feature. Tools described as ‘ergonomic’ provide medical professionals an equal amount of comfort when they are working on the procedure.
That means the blood sampling chair must have a way to let them navigate around a patient as efficiently as possible. In fact, even something as simple as a swiveling base can go a long way to reducing the strain that daily blood sampling work takes upon doctors and nurses.
3. Relaxed Posture
Lastly, while sturdiness is important, the chair must also be comfortable enough for a patient to relax. After all, patients need to keep breathing and avoid tensing up during the procedure lest they risk serious damage to the veins being used during the process.
Obviously, this is why armrests are now a common feature in a blood sampling chair. Their position (as well as their softness) allow patients to position themselves for the procedure without being too stressed out about sitting up straight. Some chairs are also adjustable, allowing practitioners to further suit the comfort of their patients.
To summarise it all, don’t just look at a phlebotomy chair and test to see how much it can hold. It is important to also know the impact of mental stress experienced both before and after a patient takes a seat.
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