Patent ID: 7678076

Claim:
A blood collection set comprising: a) an intravenous needle assembly including a needle having an intravenous puncture tip; b) a tubing in fluid communication with said intravenous needle assembly; and c) a non-patient needle assembly in fluid communication with said tubing, said non-patient needle assembly comprising: i) a hub assembly having opposing first and second ends and a central opening extending through said hub assembly from said first end to said second end, said first end in engagement with said tubing, ii) an internal blunting member in fixed engagement with said hub assembly and extending through said central opening of said hub assembly, said internal blunting member having a first end concentric with said hub assembly, a second end of said blunting member having a blunted tip and an internal lumen extending through said internal blunting member from said first end to said blunted tip, iii) an external cannula concentric with said internal blunting member and axially displaceable within said hub assembly, said external cannula including a non-patient puncture tip adjacent said blunted tip of said internal blunting member, said external cannula adapted for axial displacement with respect to said hub assembly about said internal blunting member between a first retracted position in which said non-patient puncture tip extends beyond said blunted tip of said internal blunting member and a second activated position in which said blunted tip of said internal blunting member extends beyond said non-patient puncture tip of said external cannula, and iv) a sleeve extending about said non-patient puncture tip, wherein said non-patient needle assembly is adapted so that said non-patient puncture tip can be inserted into and removed from a blood collection tube having a piercable membrane while said external cannula is in said first refracted position.