A Scottish study of heel-prick blood sampling in newborn babies.

Objective: to conduct a randomised-controlled trial to investigate the effectiveness of two heel-prick devices (Tenderfoot and Genie Lancet) used in the newborn-baby screening test.

Design: a randomised-controlled trial.

Participants And Setting: the homes of 340 healthy term newborn babies discharged from the maternity unit of Stirling Royal Infirmary, Scotland.