What does "venipuncture" mean and what is "phlebotomy"?

Venipuncture means puncturing a vein with a needle, from veni meaning vein and puncture meaning to pierce. It is performed to draw blood for laboratory testing or to insert an intravenous line. Phlebotomy means cutting into or opening a vein, from phlebo meaning vein and tomy meaning incision. In modern usage, phlebotomy and venipuncture are often used interchangeably to mean blood drawing. A phlebotomist is a healthcare professional trained to draw blood. Therapeutic phlebotomy refers to removing blood to treat conditions like hemochromatosis or polycythemia vera.