Health care should be kid’s stuff. Getting blood drawn is no fun for anyone, but in pediatrics less blood volume is taken and tiny needles with butterfly wings are used to minimize discomfort. Hospital stays and surgeries are generally just as scary for adults as they are for kids, but in pediatrics procedures have been modified to ameliorate fear and comfort the patient. Pediatrician Perri Klass opines that adult care practices should adapt to the pediatric procedures in order to improve care and outcomes.

It turns out that adult-sized blood collection tubes can have a measurable adverse effect on health. A 2011 study showed that hospitalized heart attack patients who had more blood drawn were more likely to develop anemia. The hospital that conducted the study has now switched to smaller collection tubes like those used in pediatrics.

All the research, training, skills and expertise packed into a hospital’s four walls may not be kid’s stuff, but the way all of that brilliance is applied should be. If this all sounds like some adult acting like a baby, then so be it. But keep in mind that the goal of the system is to provide health and care, hence the name.