There is a market for low cost, minimally invasive lab tests.
Using a smaller needle can be done. A skilled doctor or nurse can use a butterfly needle [0] with a fine tip, and the patient barely notices. As I recall, a 27G needle is about the smallest and not damage the blood cells.
Microfluidic Arrays [1] are one way to carry out some lab tests with smaller samples. What steps are required to get the results from the array would vary between tests.
YC (W16) funded Unima [2] is working on reducing the cost of certain lab tests with paper test strips.
Using a smaller needle can be done. A skilled doctor or nurse can use a butterfly needle [0] with a fine tip, and the patient barely notices. As I recall, a 27G needle is about the smallest and not damage the blood cells.
Microfluidic Arrays [1] are one way to carry out some lab tests with smaller samples. What steps are required to get the results from the array would vary between tests.
YC (W16) funded Unima [2] is working on reducing the cost of certain lab tests with paper test strips.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winged_infusion_set
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microfluidics
[2] http://www.unima.com.mx/nsite/index.html