Certified Phlebotomy Technician Exam Quality Assurance and Laboratory Operations 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What does the term 'hemolysis' mean in the context of a blood specimen?
- Clotting of the sample
- Rupture of red blood cells releasing hemoglobin into the plasma (Correct answer)
- Contamination with bacteria
- Lipemia in the sample
Correct answer: Rupture of red blood cells releasing hemoglobin into the plasma
Hemolysis is the destruction of red blood cells, releasing hemoglobin and intracellular contents that interfere with many laboratory tests.
Question 2: Which of the following is an example of a pre-analytical error in phlebotomy?
- Incorrect calibration of the analyzer
- Mislabeling a specimen tube at the bedside (Correct answer)
- Instrument malfunction during testing
- Transcription error in the lab report
Correct answer: Mislabeling a specimen tube at the bedside
Mislabeling a specimen is a pre-analytical error occurring before the sample reaches the laboratory, and it is one of the most common and dangerous errors.
Question 3: What information is required on a properly labeled specimen tube according to CLSI standards?
- Patient name, DOB, and collection date/time only
- Patient name, date, tube type
- Patient full name, date of birth, collection date and time, and collector ID (Correct answer)
- Room number and diagnosis
Correct answer: Patient full name, date of birth, collection date and time, and collector ID
CLSI requires patient full name, date of birth, collection date and time, and the collector's identification on every labeled tube.
Question 4: What is the maximum recommended time a centrifuged specimen should sit before aliquoting to prevent result changes?
- 30 minutes
- 2 hours (Correct answer)
- 4 hours
- 8 hours
Correct answer: 2 hours
Serum or plasma should be aliquoted within 2 hours of centrifugation to prevent analyte degradation and cellular metabolism changes.
Question 5: Which document must accompany a specimen when it is transported to a reference laboratory?
- Patient insurance card
- Chain of custody form or requisition with required identifiers (Correct answer)
- Physician's CV
- Hospital admission form
Correct answer: Chain of custody form or requisition with required identifiers
A chain of custody form or test requisition with patient identifiers, test ordered, and collection details must accompany all specimens sent to reference labs.
Question 6: What is lipemia, and how does it affect laboratory specimens?
- Excess bilirubin causing yellow serum; interferes with optical assays
- Excess lipids (triglycerides) causing cloudy serum; interferes with many chemistry tests (Correct answer)
- Low platelet count; causes clotting issues
- High glucose causing crystallization in the tube
Correct answer: Excess lipids (triglycerides) causing cloudy serum; interferes with many chemistry tests
Lipemia is excess lipids in the blood producing turbid/cloudy serum that can interfere with spectrophotometric assays and many automated chemistry tests.
Certified Phlebotomy Technician Exam Quality Assurance and Laboratory Operations 1
What does the term 'hemolysis' mean in the context of a blood specimen?