How Direct Capillary CBC Testing with HemoScreen is Transforming Pediatric Care

In pediatric care, every test is more than a clinical procedure, it’s an emotional experience for both child and caregiver. Venous blood draws, though routine for adults, often trigger fear, resistance, and tears in children. For clinicians, these procedures can be technically challenging, time-consuming, and disruptive to clinical workflow, especially in busy pediatric or family practices.

HemoScreen is changing that. As the only FDA-cleared point-of-care CBC analyzer offering a 5-part differential from a direct capillary fingerstick, it represents a breakthrough in how blood tests
are performed for children. It combines lab-quality accuracy, direct sampling without microtainers, and a maintenance-free, easy-to-use system, making it ideal for pediatric settings where comfort, speed, and simplicity matter most.

Direct Capillary Sampling: A Game Changer in Pediatric Testing

Capillary sampling itself is not new in pediatrics, but HemoScreen introduces a crucial innovation—direct sampling. Traditional capillary blood collection often requires manually squeezing the finger to fill a microtainer tube, a process that is not only painful for the child but also prone to clotting and sampling errors. These issues can result in test delays, re-collection, or even false results, increasing stress for everyone involved.

HemoScreen bypasses this entirely. The clinician simply collects a drop of blood directly into a disposable, self-contained cartridge. There’s no need for smearing, squeezing, or manually filling tubes. The process takes seconds and requires no specialized technique, making it not only less painful but also more reliable and reproducible.

For pediatric patients, this means a quick fingerstick with minimal discomfort. For clinicians and staff, it means greater efficiency, fewer errors, and smoother workflows.

Simplicity that Fits Any Pediatric Workflow

In a pediatric setting, time is of the essence—not only for diagnosis but also for managing clinic flow, keeping children calm, and reducing overall stress for families.

HemoScreen has been designed with simplicity at its core:

• No calibration or reagent handling: The self-contained cartridge system includes all reagents, eliminating the need for maintenance or cleaning.
• No sample preparation: There’s no centrifuging, pipetting, or dilution steps. The entire process is automated once the sample is inserted.
• Minimal training required: Staff can be trained in minutes, making it suitable even for clinics without dedicated lab personnel.
• No downtime or delays: Results are ready in under five minutes, allowing for real-time clinical decision-making during the same visit.

This level of simplicity helps streamline operations in busy pediatric offices, urgent care centers, and even mobile or rural clinics. It reduces waiting times, improves clinic throughput, and enhances the overall experience for patients and staff alike.

Rapid Results Where Care Happens

For children, waiting is often the hardest part. Long delays for lab results can extend visits, heighten anxiety, and postpone treatment decisions.

With HemoScreen, CBC results are available within minutes, right at the point of care. This empowers pediatricians to:

• Diagnose infections or anemia during the visit.
• Make informed decisions about antibiotic prescriptions, further testing, or referrals.
• Immediately assess treatment efficacy or readiness for chemotherapy.
• Reassure parents with clear answers before they leave the clinic.

This immediacy of care not only improves outcomes but also strengthens trust between clinicians and families, reducing follow-up calls and unnecessary re-visits. For children who are unwell, this rapid turnaround means faster relief and reassurance. For parents, it’s peace of mind delivered on the spot (Wilson et al., 2021).

Lab-Grade Accuracy You Can Trust

Despite its simplicity, HemoScreen does not compromise on performance. Using a unique combination of viscoelastic focusing and machine vision, it analyzes cells with accuracy equivalent to that of large, centralized hematology analyzers.

This makes it appropriate for:

• Diagnosing acute and chronic hematologic conditions.
• Monitoring children with oncology or autoimmune disorders.
• Screening for anemia, infection, or hematologic abnormalities during routine checkups.

Clinicians can trust the results, even in critical care situations, knowing that diagnostic accuracy is not being sacrificed for speed or convenience.

Expanding Access, Improving Equity

Because HemoScreen requires no lab infrastructure, no phlebotomists, and no maintenance, it can be used virtually anywhere, from large hospitals to rural clinics, school-based health programs, and urgent care centers. This expands access to high-quality hematology testing, particularly in underserved or remote communities where lab access may be limited.

It enables providers to bring diagnostics closer to the patient, reducing travel burdens for families and enabling earlier intervention in communities that need it most.

A Kinder, Gentler Approach to Pediatric Blood Testing

For pediatric patients, HemoScreen delivers a dramatically improved testing experience: a single gentle finger prick, a short wait, and no fear of needles or return visits. For parents, it offers clarity and reassurance at the moment they need it most. And for healthcare teams, it reduces complexity, enhances efficiency, and improves clinical agility.

In a healthcare landscape increasingly focused on patient-centered care, operational efficiency, and equitable access, HemoScreen offers a compelling solution, especially for our youngest and most vulnerable patients.

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In pediatric care, every drop of blood and every moment of comfort counts. With HemoScreen, clinicians can deliver lab-grade CBC results quickly, easily, and gently, transforming the pediatric testing experience from a source of stress into a seamless part of compassionate care.

Whether you’re a healthcare professional seeking the best for your patients or a decision-maker in a medical facility, embracing advanced CBC analyzers like HemoScreen can make a tangible difference. Explore the clinical evidence or contact us today to learn more.

(*) Please note: training must be defined by local, state and federal regulations. In the USA, training is defined for CLIA moderate complexity devices.

(*) Please note: in acordance with HemoScreen’s FDA certification, the inteded use is for the age of 24 months (2 years) and above.