ROANOKE, Va. – One of the most dreaded parts of being in a hospital for most patients is needles. This is especially true if you need your blood drawn multiple times during a stay, which is often the case for diabetics, the elderly, and those with blood disorders. However, that’s changing at Carilion Clinic this year as they become the first health system in the state and the Southeastern U.S. to offer needle-free blood draws with the PIVO Pro, a needle-free blood collection device that uses a patient’s existing peripheral IV line for blood draws.
This technology minimizes the need for multiple needlesticks, reducing patient pain, anxiety, and complications while improving clinical efficiency. Initially available at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, the device will expand to other Carilion hospitals throughout the year, a move which Carilion Clinic leaders say is revolutionizing the patient experience for the region.
10 News spoke to nurses and patients about the device.
Liberty High School senior Skyler Hypes returned to Roanoke Memorial Hospital in February to show her gratitude to the nurses who helped save her life during a month-long hospital stay. She was admitted in July with dangerously low hemoglobin.
“They’re both they’re amazing. They mean so much to me now,” she said, referring to Carilion Nurse Shelly Hinson and Director of Nursing Practice Suzanne Bowser. Skyler missed the first day of her senior year due to her hospitalization for Evans syndrome, an autoimmune blood disorder that causes anemia.
Skyler said it was the sickest she had been in her life and described what it was like frequently having her blood drawn. “I was having to get my blood drawn every day, like I was getting stuck every morning. And obviously I dreaded that because nobody enjoys getting stuck with the needle,” she said. However, Carilion was conducting a trial in their pediatric patients using PIVO at the time, a suggestion by Bowser.
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“PIVO originated from a physician who had just met with a patient and said, ‘I don’t want to be stuck anymore. I’m tired of having IVs. I’m tired of getting needle sticks. And I would rather just die than have any more needle sticks,’” Bowser explained. The PIVO device attaches to a patient’s existing IV to collect blood, eliminating additional needle sticks.
Bowser noted that some patients in the trial had experienced as many as seven or eight needle sticks just to get labs started due to the condition of their veins. PIVO changes that, helping patients like Skyler, who need multiple blood draws during a hospital stay. Skyler was one of the first pediatric patients to participate in the trial. “It really made a huge difference that my arms aren’t covered in bruises anymore,” she said. Even after the trial was over, Skyler and her grandmother insisted nurses continue to use PIVO.
“We have phlebotomists that come around, and people say, ‘I hate having those needle sticks happen. It’s one of those things you dread in the hospital.’ But it became a situation where some of our patients were like, ‘Oh man, they are going to use that thing again. Let’s go try it and see what happens.’ And that has been a satisfier for our teams as well because they are not going and creating an unpleasant experience for our patients, but actually able to do something they feel good about too.”
Shelly Hinson, one of Skyler’s nurses, called PIVO a “huge game changer” and emphasized its impact on patient experience. “They don’t have that pain and trauma of getting stuck multiple times,” Hinson said.
Skyler shared how PIVO transformed her hospital stay: “It changed my entire hospital stay. I mean, it was like life-saving. I remember I cried; it just made me so happy to have these people that wanted to help me through such a hard time in my life.” Skyler plans to attend nursing school after graduation, with the hopes of helping others as she was helped.
“I just, I aspire to be just like them,” Skyler said.
Carilion Clinic began rolling out PIVO in January and plans to have it in use at all Carilion facilities by the end of the year.
