Advantages

More precision, more safety, more ergonomics

** The standard butterfly needle has important limitations which we list below:

1) The wings are made of flexible plastic, so if there is resistance to the needle's advancement, it is not possible to change direction. If you forcefully attempt to change direction, the wings flex between your fingers.

2) The two-finger grip does not allow for optimal control. If you hold the wings with your right hand, you cannot orient the needle to the right to follow a vein running in that direction. Right-handed orientation is prevented by anatomical limitations of the wrist. In fact, the standard butterfly needle is oriented primarily by wrist movement and minimally by finger movement.

3) In the classic two-finger grip, your hand covers the back of the needle, where the metal part connects to the plastic tube. Therefore, blood reflux into the transparent tube is not immediately visible.

4) When the standard needle is used for blood sampling with vacuum technology, the plastic tube tends to twist, making the sampling procedure considerably more complicated;

5) The standard needle does not have a safety mechanism.

Summary table of benefits

Feature Standard butterfly needle FLEX device

Manual control Medium High

Ergonomics Limited Optimized

Safety Standard Improved

Precision Variable Constant

** In the case of the butterfly needle mounted on FLEX devices, these drawbacks are overcome:

a) the bending of the wings becomes irrelevant because the needle is mounted in a rigid device;

b) orientation limitations due to the anatomical structure of the wrist are overcome since the device is operated with the fingers, specifically, with three fingers;

c) the area where the needle tail connects to the plastic tubing is exposed to the operator's view, so blood reflux is immediately visible;

d) when drawing blood using vacuum technology, the Eliflex models prevent tangling of the plastic tubing since the tubing length is significantly shortened. Shortening the tubing also reduces dead space. In the Eliflex model, the butterfly needle is operated and directed via a syringe.

e) protection against accidental injury to the operator is ensured by the safety mechanism provided by the Sureflex models.

The advantages of the device become more evident when compared to the limitations imposed by the use of the standard butterfly needle.