Blood Type Kit - Also Includes: 1 Eldoncard, 1 lancet, gauze, alcohol wipe, micropipette
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Our Price: $11.15 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Health Care See more product details |
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Customer Reviews of Blood Type Kit - Also Includes: 1 Eldoncard, 1 lancet, gauze, alcohol wipe, micropipette
Customer Review: Practice makes perfect
Summary: 5 Stars
My oldest daughter was going to Mexico for a semester to study abroad, and needed to know her blood type. The doctor wanted $200 (I was shocked) to do a blood type test, and my daughter did not want to give at the Red Cross to find out because she is afraid of needles. So, we thought we would give this a try.
I bought 4 kits: one each for my wife and I, and one for each of my daughters. My wife and I know our blood types because we give to the Red Cross, and would be the "control subjects". Plus, by doing ours first, it would allow for some practice.
Here are the steps for the test. Everything you need (except the water) is included.
1) Put a drop of water (dropper included) in each of the four circles on the card
2) Clean a finger with an alcohol wipe
3) Prick the finger using a spring-loaded finger prick
4) Squeeze a drop of blood on a stir stick
5) Stir the blood into the water
6) Using a new stir stick, repeat #3 and #4 for each circle
7) Read the results using the included instructions
The finger prick device worked well. The kit comes with two finger pricks, which was good because one of the pricks was already "sprung" in one of the kits (it looks like the protective cap came off during shipping). One tip for drawing blood: Make sure your hands are warm. My youngest daughter's hands were cold, and I really had to massage the finger to get blood to come out.
The kit comes with 4 "stir sticks". I found it a little challenging to get the blood on the end of the stick. Tip: Make sure to stir the blood and water well. For the first two cards, I was being "gentle" with my stirring. It worked better if I made sure the stir stick rubbed on the card as I stirred.
The results? Pretty good. I'm O-, and my card clearly indicated that. My wife is B+. Her Anti-D was clearly coagulated, but her Anti-B was not as clear. As we got more practice with the process and stirred better, my two daughters' results were very clear. My oldest is O- and my youngest is B-. By the way, I checked online to see if those were possible hereditary blood types for my daughters based on my and my wife's blood types...they are.
Customer Review: Worked flawlessly.
Summary: 5 Stars
My buddy wanted to check his blood type in order to see if his blood would match his other friend who has leukemia and needed a transfusion. Unfortunately, it didn't match. With regards to the product, it works quick and there was no confusion with the results. The red cross stopped matching people's blood for free and since his friend needed it pronto and you can't donate more than once every month and a half (don't quote me on that), we needed the test done quickly. Since he doesn't have a doctor, this was our only choice and it turned out to be a good one. I've read some complaints about needing too much blood for the test. You actually need to place the lancet on the correct part of the finger in order to get a good blood flow, and if you do it correctly, you'll have no problems getting the amount of blood needed for the blood. Just google "how to do a fingerstick" and a bunch of resources can help you out". If you don't have access to a computer at the time you receive the test and complete it, just remember to make sure your finger is warm, that you lightly massage it for a minute beforehand, and hang your arm down in order to pool the blood. If you due this, you should be fine. After you do the test, let it completely dry flat and then place the protective covering over the card. If you put this in your wallet and happen to get in some sort of accident requiring an immediate blood transfusion, the EMT personnel will end up giving you O neg (universal) blood anyways, as they aren't about to take our word for it. Even so, it doesn't hurt to keep it on you, until "DNA identity theft" becomes popular in the future. But until then, I think I'm better off with it in my card.Customer Review: Worked for me
Summary: 5 Stars
I never had any idea what blood type I was. I asked my doc recently and she sent me off to the blood lab. A few days later she told me I was type A. But what about the rhesus factor? Oh, they don't test for that by default. What? What use is the test then.
So rather than waste another $75 I ordered this kit.
Me and my wife stood and read the instructions then added a drop of water to each of the four test sites.
We swabbed my finger to make sure it was clean, don't want to introduce anything nasty in to a finger. I pulled the cap off the lancet and pressed it on my finger.
*click*
Hmm, did it do anything. Then the blood welled up. Oh. We used the four little stirrers, one for each test, and mixed blood and water with the test material, making sure to mix in the test material from the surface of the card.
The cotton wool sopped up the blood and stopped the leak. By the time I finished worrying about the leak we knew I was A negative.
I washed my hands in warm water before we started, but I had no trouble getting plenty of blood out of my finger.
Customer Review: Painless on the wallet.
Summary: 4 Stars
So I never knew my blood type and wanted to find out. My two options were (a) this card for $13, or (b) a lab test for $100.
The card was the easier of the two options, as I suspected I have a 'common' blood type. If you suspect you have a rare or unusual blood type, you'll have to pony up the cash. The card will do basic ABO and Rhesus +-, but the Rhesus test isn't super sensitive.
The most important part of doing the test yourself is: Read. The. Directions. Then read them again. The ones I got were probably translated from Dutch to German to English, making me scratch my head a few times. So make sure you _understand_ the instructions.
Once you know what you're supposed to be doing, it's easy. The lancet is surprisingly effective. I was expecting a small puncture but it made a decent sized hole. Plenty of blood, provided you know what you're going to be doing with it.
Customer Review: Simple, Fast, Accurate
Summary: 5 Stars
I'd always been curious as to my blood type, but never enough to actually go and have it done. My husband (who is an RN) and I discussed using this method--something he thought would be rather fun to try at home. Admittedly, it was far more fun for him (as he was the lancer, rather than the lancee), but I was surprised both at how easy and fast the Eldon test really was. As long as you follow directions EXACTLY, the result would seem to be fast and undisputed: at least it was perfectly readable for us. I suspect that this test is easier when done as a team, as we did, as time is definitely of the essence and having one get the blood on the stick while the other stirs the previous specimen on the card makes things much less frenzied than they might have been. A great, easy, inexpensive test, and one I'd gladly recommend to anyone interested in typing their own blood!