Laboratory Procedures and Specimen Collection Flashcards
7 cards from real CMT practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Laboratory Procedures and Specimen Collection flashcards as text
Which personal protective equipment (PPE) is REQUIRED when handling all patient specimens in the laboratory?
Answer: Gloves, lab coat, and eye protection
Standard precautions require gloves to protect hands from blood/body fluid contact, a lab coat to protect clothing and skin, and eye protection against splashes.
After centrifugation of a serum separator tube (SST), the specimen layers from bottom to top are:
Answer: Red blood cells → gel barrier → serum
Centrifugal force moves denser red blood cells to the bottom; the gel barrier migrates between cells and serum, leaving the lighter serum on top for testing.
Which temperature range is required for the transport of most routine blood specimens to preserve analyte stability?
Answer: Room temperature (20°C to 25°C)
Most routine blood specimens are transported at room temperature (20–25°C) because refrigeration can cause cold agglutination or analyte precipitation that alters results.
A specimen is rejected by the laboratory if it is received with which condition?
Answer: The tube is unlabeled or mismatched with the requisition
An unlabeled or mislabeled specimen presents a serious patient safety risk and must be rejected per laboratory policy to prevent result reporting errors.
Quality control (QC) samples in the clinical laboratory are used primarily to:
Answer: Monitor instrument and reagent performance to detect errors before patient results are reported
Running QC samples with known values allows the laboratory to detect systematic and random errors in the testing process before those errors affect patient results.
Sharps contaminated with blood must be disposed of in:
Answer: A rigid, puncture-resistant biohazard sharps container
OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogen Standard requires all contaminated sharps to be placed immediately in a rigid, puncture-resistant, leakproof sharps container to prevent needlestick injuries.
Chain of custody documentation for a laboratory specimen is MOST important when:
Answer: The specimen will be tested for forensic, legal, or drug screening purposes
Chain of custody documentation provides a legal record of who collected, handled, and tested the specimen, which is essential for forensic and drug testing results to be admissible in legal proceedings.