Phlebotomy tubes and additives

Order of draw

1. Yellow

2. Light Blue

3. Red

4. Gold, Red/gray tiger top

5. Green, Light Green, Green/Gray

6. Purple/Lavender

7. Pink

8. Gray

9. Royal Blue (look in book to make sure)

10. Tan

blood culture

-contains SPS, yellow top

- draw first because you need to use sterile technique

Light Blue Tube

-Contains Sodium Citrate.

-Used in Coagulation dept.

-Tests for PT, PTT, Fibrinogen, clotting factors

-draw second after blood culture

Red tube top

-No additive or gel seperator

-used for blood chemistries or any test requiring serum

-draw third after light blue

gold and red/gray top tubes

-a serum separator gel and no additives (maybe a clot activator, SST)

-chemistry, immunology

-draw fourth after red top tube

Green, green/gray top tube

-Additive: sodium heparin, lithium heparin, ammonium heparin

- chemistry

- can have a gel separator (light, PST)

-draw fifth after gold or red/gray tubes

Lavender Tube (pink or pearl)

-Contains EDTA. Used in Hematology & blood bank

-tests CBC, WBC, RBC, Platelet counts, any blood counts

-draw sixth after green tubes

Gray tube

Glucose Tolerance Test, Fasting Blood Sugar, Lactic Acid, Blood alcohol

- potassium oxalate and sodium fluoride

Royal blue tube

-Used got toxicology, trace metals, and nutritional analysis

- can contain EDTA, heparin or no additives

SPS additive

-anticoagulant used for blood cultures

-an inhibitor of humoral and cellular elements that might interfere with bacterial growth

sodium citrate

anticoagulant that binds calcium and is used for coagulation tests because it does the best job of preserving the coagulation factors.

clot activator

-Coagulation enhancing substance, such as silica (glass)

Heparin

- sodium, lithium, ammonium

- inhibits thrombin from forming

EDTA

-binds Calcium to prevent coagulation

Potassium oxalate

-binds calcium

-with sodium fluoride

Sodium fluoride

-preserves glucose

-slows metabolic process of glucose

Orange tube used for:

STAT serum chemistries

- contains thrombin

Tan tube

-EDTA/Heparin

- lead analysis