Adverse complications of venipuncture: a systematic review

INTRODUCTION: Venipuncture (VP) is the most routinely invasive procedure performed in clinical settings as it is an important tool mainly for diagnosis, monitoring, drug administration and blood donation. This review discusses the complications that can occur during this procedure. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: We planned to include all the studies dealing with "venipuncture and complications" and "venipuncture and adverse events." We excluded all the studies, which did not properly fit our research question, and with insufficient data. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Of the 2345 records found, after removing of duplicates, and after records excluded in title and abstract, 173 matched our inclusion criteria. After reading the full-text articles, we decided to exclude 144 articles because not responding properly to our research questions or due to insufficient data. The final set included 29 articles. CONCLUSIONS: There are several complications resulting from VP such as pain and fear; hematoma; thrombosis, infection, nerve damage, arterial puncture, vasovagal reactions, and also rare events. Improving quality in venipuncture site and vein selection, and also in venipuncture technique may help in lowering complications.