Collection Requirements

Only available for Covenant HealthCare Hospital Inpatient Services

- Venipuncture: A 21G or larger bore needle is required. In order to avoid tissue contaminants, draw a 2.7 mL blue top (sodium citrate) tube as a discard before drawing the tube for testing.

- Line draws: Draw from the appropriate port as per Covenant HealthCare policy and discard the first 7-10 mL. It is unacceptable to fill tubes from syringes when no discard syringe has been drawn as it will impact specimen quality and make the test results invalid.

- Draw one 2.7mL blue-top sodium citrate tube of blood to the appropriate level (excess anticoagulant may affect the test results). Use only 2.7mL sodium citrate tubes.

- Gently invert the tube 5 times to mix.

- Label the tube, verify specimen collection and place the specimen in a biohazard bag (with no additional specimens included) and immediately send the specimen over via the pneumatic tube to the Main Lab.