A kapillare Blutentnahme collects blood from the capillary bed rather than from a vein. In a pharmacy that usually means a lancet at the fingertip, or a self-collection device applied to the upper arm that takes a small volume without a puncture the customer has to watch.
It is attractive to a pharmacy because the collection is quick, because it needs no ärztliche Schulung for a venous puncture, and because many people who avoid blood tests altogether will accept it.
The limits are equally real and worth stating to a customer rather than glossing over them:
- The sample volume is small, which limits how many analyses one collection can support.
- Capillary blood is not identical to venous blood for every marker, so results are not always interchangeable with a venous reference.
- Handling matters more, because squeezing the finger or shaking the tube causes Hämolyse and can make a sample unusable.
Compared with the venöse Blutentnahme that the ApoVWG newly permits, the difference is one of range rather than quality, because a venous sample supports broad panels whereas a capillary sample covers a focused set well.
The two methods complement each other, so a pharmacy can start with capillary collection and a Point-of-Care-Test offering, then add venous collection once the training and the rooms are in place, without discarding the first service.
Either way the sample is sent to an akkreditiertes Labor unless the result is produced on the device itself, and the Präanalytik rules apply just as strictly.
This glossary entry is general information about German pharmacy law and practice. It is not legal advice. For binding guidance on your own pharmacy, contact your Landesapothekerkammer.
