WHO Blood Collection Guide: Best Practice for Venous Blood Collection

Every step in blood collection affects the quality of the specimen, so it is an important measure to prevent laboratory errors, patient damage or even death. Blood collection also poses risks to health care workers.

Blood collection is generally performed by using a large hollow needle to puncture into the blood vessel to collect blood. The needle may carry a lot of blood, and in the event of an accidental acupuncture, it may be more likely to spread the disease than other sharps. Blood-borne diseases that can cause transmission after acupuncture include hepatitis B caused by viruses, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, syphilis caused by bacteria, and malaria caused by parasites.

This guide outlines simple but important operations that make blood collection safer. This guide promotes the best practices for blood collection by improving the quality of blood collection and the quality of blood collection for health care providers and patients.