Stripper (tool)

A stripper, or tube stripper, is a medical tool used for removing air or liquid from rubber tubes, such as those used for infusion. They can also be used for connecting the bags used by blood banks for the blood collection process. Its design is similar to a pair of

pliers Pliers are a hand tool used to hold objects firmly, possibly developed from tongs used to handle hot metal in Bronze Age Europe. They are also useful for bending and physically compressing a wide range of materials. Generally, pliers consist ...

, but the jaws do not quite close (providing space enough for a flattened, empty tube) and have cylinders that can be rolled along the tube similar to the mechanism of a peristaltic pump. A stripper may be used, for instance, to move blood that remains in the tube at the end of a

blood collection In medicine, sampling is gathering of matter from the body to aid in the process of a medical diagnosis and/or evaluation of an indication for treatment, further medical tests or other procedures. In this sense, the sample is the gathered matter ...

into the bag, thus avoiding wastage. Medical equipment {{Medical-equipment-stub