At 19 Elizabeth Holmes started her high-tech lab-test company Theranos, – it’s now worth $9bill.

Fortune lauded her amazing technology but I see her work leading to the end of phlebotomy sharps injuries.

Theranos specializes in low-cost, rapid-turnaround lab tests – from a drop of blood!.
With more than 200 patents and another 200 in the wind, this not just a PKU, she and her team have developed over 200 lab tests achievable from a simple finger-prick – and hope to have 1,000 tests soon.

If this is phlebotomy of the future then sharps injuries from hollow-bore needles will become a thing of the past – you just need a finger-lancet – a safety finger lancet.

My recent audits of sharps container contents showed that safety engineered devices are not as commonly used as we thought – but another observation I made (unpublished) was that that (i) every lancet was a safety lancet, and (ii) every single safety lancet was activated correctly!

Thanks to Theranos, the future for phlebotomists looks very safe indeed.