Skills Hub
phlebotomy-capillary
Capillary Puncture — Earlobe (Arterialized)
Arterialized blood from the warmed earlobe.
About this skill
Earlobe puncture for arterialized blood gas analysis when fingerstick is not feasible. Warming the earlobe makes capillary blood approximate arterial values.
12 total steps
6 critical steps
Time limit: 5 min
What graders are watching for
- 1Warming arterializes the blood
- 2Use only when fingerstick is not feasible
- 3Lower edge of the earlobe only
Common mistakes (and how to avoid them)
- !Puncturing the cartilage
- !Skipping the warming step
- !Pressing too long on the cartilage
Practice this skill step-by-step
The static walkthrough above is the marketing overview. The full step-by-step interactive practice (with critical-step highlighting, per-step "why this matters" rationale, and what graders watch for on each individual step) is unlocked with a subscription.