Order of Draw Venipuncture
"Young Lovely Roses Really Grow Gracefully Like Gardens."
Young → Yellow (Blood Cultures/SPS)
Lovely → Light Blue (Citrate)
Roses → Red (No additive)
Really → Red/Grey Marbled (SST)
Grow → Green (Heparin)
Gracefully → Green/Grey Marbled (PST)
Like → Lavender (EDTA)
Gardens → Grey (Fluoride)
Order of Draw
Color | Vacuum Tube Color | Additive | Laboratory Use | Number of Inversions |
 | Yellow top tube or blood culture bottles | Sodium polyanethol sulfonate; prevents blood from clotting and stabilizes bacterial growth | Blood or body fluid cultures | |
 | Light blue | Sodium citrate; removes calcium to prevent blood from clotting | Coagulation testing | 3 to 4 |
 | Red | None | Serum test; chemistry studies; blood bank; immunology | 5 |
 | Red/gray marbled | No anticoagulant but contains silica particles to enhance clot formation; use for serum separation | Serum test; chemistry studies; immunology | 5 |
 | Green | Heparin: inhibits thrombin formation to prevent clotting | Chemistry test | 8 |
 | Green/gray marble | Lithium heparin and gel; for plasma separation | Plasma determinations in chemistry studies | 8 |
 | Lavender | Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA); removes calcium to prevent blood from clotting | Hematology test | 8 |
 | Gray | Potassium oxalate and sodium fluoride; removes calcium to prevent blood from clotting; fluoride inhibits glycolysis | Chemistry testing, especially glucose and alcohol levels | 8 to 10 |