Meaning & use
venipuncture
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Meaning
nouncountable or uncountablemedical
The act of pushing a needle into a vein, usually to take a blood sample or to give fluids or medicine.
Grammar: Used as a general procedure (venipuncture is quick) or for one instance (a failed venipuncture).
Patterns
- venipuncture on someone
- perform venipuncture
The nurse completed the venipuncture in under a minute.
Young children often cry during venipuncture, even when it is done gently.
A second venipuncture was needed because the first vein collapsed.
Word forms
| plural | venipunctures |
|---|
Common combinations
- perform a venipuncture
- Only trained staff may perform a venipuncture in this clinic.
- difficult venipuncture
- Dehydration can make venipuncture difficult.
- venipuncture site
- Press on the venipuncture site to stop any bleeding.
- repeated venipunctures
- Patients on long treatment often dislike repeated venipunctures.
- venipuncture needle
- A thinner venipuncture needle is used for small veins.
Synonyms and how they differ
- phlebotomy
- Phlebotomy is the wider practice of drawing blood as a job or medical skill, while venipuncture names the single act of piercing the vein.
- blood draw
- Blood draw is the plain everyday phrase that patients use, whereas venipuncture is the clinical term and can also mean inserting a drip.
- venepuncture
- Venepuncture is simply the British spelling and means exactly the same thing.
Word family
- vein noun
- a tube that carries blood back toward the heart
- venous adjective
- relating to veins, as in venous blood
- puncture noun
- a small hole made by something sharp
- phlebotomist noun
- a health worker trained to draw blood
Commonly confused: venipuncture or venesection?
venipuncture vs venesection
Venesection means cutting open a vein to remove a larger amount of blood as treatment, whereas venipuncture is a small needle stick for a sample or line.
Practice
Before the test, the technician carried out a ___ on the patient's left arm to collect a blood sample.
Choose one answer.
Venipuncture is piercing a vein to draw blood. A biopsy removes tissue, a vaccination gives a vaccine, and a tourniquet is a band, not a procedure.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “venipuncture”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.