A LIttle Drop Will Do Ya?

What if routine bloodwork was near-instant and near painless? 

What if a pin-prick of blood,  say a microliter, could provide enough sample to allow hundreds, maybe even thousands of tests to be run? 

 

Photos courtesy of Theranos, Inc.

 

That future is actually be here and you can see it yourself at the local Walgreens Pharmacy in  Palo Alto, CA.  Starting today (Monday 23 September 2013) and soon nationwide.

A recent Wall Street Journal article profiles the genius and entrepreneur behind Theranos, a med-tech company you'll be hearing much about soon.  Meet 29-year old Elizabeth Holmes.  A  Stanford drop out at age 19 (sound familiar?) she cashed in her college fund and started up Theranos,  Her company has been quietly working on dramatically reducing the time and cost of common and not-so-common laboratory tests. 

Imagine, as nurses, you could eliminate the pain of large volume blood draws.  Lower risk of anemia.  No more dealing with collapsed veins.  No tears from a sick child.  No long waits on critical tests.  Welcome to the next wave of medical science.