Heel Stick for Newborns

The shaded in areas are the preferred sites for an infant heel stick.

*Consult your instructor and policy & procedure manual before preforming any nursing procedures. Slight differences may exist between this resource and your institution’s desired method (e.g., how to collect the blood and what you do with it to send it to the lab).  Remember, don’t squeeze the heel so hard that you are squeezing out excess extracellular fluid which may alter the results of certain tests.