Red top tube 🍷

What’s the additive in a glass red top

It has no additive

What’s the additive in a plastic red top

Clot activator

What’s the specimen

Serum

What do you do after inverting the tube 5 times

• Allow the blood to clot completely in an upright position this usually takes (30-60 minutes)

• Once clotting is complete centrifuge the tube as directed

• Label it

What do you do in a stat situation

In a stat situation blood samples for TDM can be collected in light green top tubes with no gel additives as these tubes don’t require centrifugation and can provide a result more quickly

What lab department

Chemistry

What do you do in a non-stat situation?

TDM blood samples are ordered in red top or gold top (SST) tubes

• a serum separator tube (sst) contains a clot activator and gel separator, this tube is used to separate serum from cells after centrifugation

What’s therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM)?

Clinical practice or measuring specific drug levels in a patients bloodstream at scheduled intervals to maintain a safe and effective dose and prevent toxicity

What’s its main use

Glass top and plastic top: discard tube, used when butterfly needle will be used and then proceed with the light blue tube but they can both do therapeutic drug monitoring

Glass: no additive

Plastic: clot activator

How many times do you invert?

Glass tube: no inversions

Plastic (additive) : 5 gentle inversions