Item — HN Reader

> You don't need to be a trained phlebotomist to do it.

Yes, but Theranos still had phlebotomists doing their finger pricks. Also, phlebotomists aren't that expensive. Even in the Bay Area I think they only make around $18 an hour. Cheaper than a nurse, for sure.

2 comments

They had phlebotomists because, as we discovered in the fall, they were still drawing the standard vacutainers for all of the tests except the one that actually worked on the microfluidic system.

The remainder were run through traditional ELISA and clin-chem machinery from other companies.

Part of the excitement around Theranos was that their finger prick approach opened up blood diagnostic technologies to situations (e.g., combat) and countries where it is difficult to get access to trained phlebotomists.