Latest NHA Phlebotomy-Technician Practice Questions BY Rivera

The specimen must be redrawn in an unexpired tube. Expired additive tubes cannot be trusted because the vacuum, sterility, additive concentration, stopper integrity, and chemical performance may be compromised. Once blood has been collected into an expired additive tube, the specimen is already affected by that collection environment; transferring it into another tube does not correct the original exposure and can introduce additional hemolysis, contamination, clotting, or additive-ratio errors. Placing the specimen on ice does not reverse an expired additive problem. Submitting the specimen because the tube is ''within 30 days'' of expiration is unsafe; expired means expired, and laboratory acceptance criteria are based on valid collection supplies. This is a preventable preanalytical error, and the phlebotomist should also remove expired supplies from use to prevent recurrence. Tube expiration checks must occur before collection, not after the draw. Reference topics: Processing Specimens; preanalytical error; expired supplies; specimen rejection; tube quality control; recollection procedures.

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