Published
In nursing school, they teach you to fill to the line on each tube, but never WHY. Often during orientation, new hires get a 50 cent tour of the lab and pharmacy, so here's an idea ... show new nurses someone actually RUNNING a tube so it's clear why things are done the way they are. (and show us the refrigerator where all those lost labs roll under)
My mind went to tube tops too, but I re-read it a couple times and got the point.
The blue tube MUST be full because in order to run coats they use a ratio of (citrate?) with blood, if the ratio is incorrect the value is inaccurate. Someone is more than welcome to correct me/go into detail as to the "why."
psu_213, BSN, RN
3,878 Posts
I have alluded to this in the past, and I'm just wondering what others' experiences are with this...
I was recently helping a nurse draw blood on a very confused older pt. In an attempt to finish drawing blood before the pt. bit here, the nurse pulled the light blue tube (for coags) off the adaptor before the tube was filled all the way (it was not even close to being filled) and said "that's good enough" and the lab ran it. On the other hand, I have gotten calls from the lab saying that I have to recollect the blue tube because it was not full enough. I was pretty sure it was full, but I drew another one, double checked that it was all the way full, and, sure enough, got the call that the tube was not filled enough.
Has anyone else noticed an inconsistency in how their lab treats blue tube samples?