Procedure Potpourri
What is ask the patient if it feels dry?
These tubes are used for bleeding time tests, also know as coagulation studies
what is light blue?
Barring the manufacturer stating otherwise, what is the typical spin time for a centrifuge?
What is 10-15 minutes?
What is check with the provider?
This is the amount of times all tubes should ultimately be inverted
What is 8-10 times?
These little gems are floating around in plasma, but not in serum-- this is the difference between these two
What are clotting proteins, or clotting factors
This is the name of the additive which helps to yield whole blood in lavender tubes
what is EDTA?
Or- ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid
Though all tubes must be inverted, this tube requires the most immediate inversions, as to preserve as much of this unchanged blood as possible
What is lavender?
What might be an appropriate action to take if a patient describes a previous situation where they fainted during a blood draw?
What is offer the patient to lie down during the draw?
This is the name of Stephen's method for how to use the flanges to help stabilize while pushing on vacutainers
What is the "C" method?
This antecubital vein is found most lateral, and is most easily palpated with a prone palm
What is the cephalic vein?
These were the two major functions of vacutainers spoken about in lecture
What are a means of sterile transport for blood specimens, and a means of yielding a desired blood component for testing by way of additive
These are the minimum and maximum time outliers for how long a serum tube should be allowed to sit upright to coagulate before centrifugation
What are 30-120 minutes?
What might be the most appropriate response if a patient describes suddenly feeling nauseous during a blood draw?
What is withdraw the needle and activate safety, wait until feeling has passed before attempting re-draw
What are hematology tests?
What are keeping the vein in place and created a tauter skin for smooth insertion
This tube comes with a handy 9/10ths full line on the side, so you can be sure to know when they are at maximum fill
This is the approximate amount of serum that would be yielded from gold-topped tube filled completely which could hold 8.5 mL of blood
What is 4.25 mL or less?
This is the most appropriate action to take if, when looking up processing information in a test directory, things just don't make sense to you
What is- check with another MA, a team member, or call lab services. NEVER proceed with the draw until you have a solid plan for processing that you understand.
These are three of the six ways we can ensure we properly label vacutainers
What are...
1. Easy to read, required information,
2. Placed below the cap,
3. Color-coded notch and sidebar visible, if applicable;
4. Barcode straight;
5. Smooth all around;, and
6. Not covering up expiration date
This is the term for a blood specimen with too many formed elements and analytes with not enough liquid, occurring most frequently due to a prolonged tourniquet tie
What is hemoconcentration?
These are the names of the three anticoagulant tubes, in order of draw, which do not yield whole blood
What are light blue, green and grey
This is the time when a tube drawn for a bilirubin test should begin being protected from light
What is prior to blood entering the tube?
This is (probably) the most appropriate action to take if you hear a patient say "ouch!" during a blood draw
What is ask the patient if they can contain, and make a small adjustment in-or-out to see if this helps. Check with them. If too painful-- remove needle.
These are 4 solid reasons why you might choose to avoid a particular arm or vein on a patient
What are presence of inflammation, wound, injury, burn, rash, lesion, tattoo, scarring? Injury of arm? Recent phlebotomy site? Lymph node removal on this side, mastectomy history? Patient doesn't want you to?