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Draw Order The order in which vacuum tubes are drawn during venipuncture can affect the quality of the specimen collected because additives from one tube may contaminate the next. Draw order has caused increasing confusion for phlebotomists as the variety of additives has evolved over the years. The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, formerly the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS), has simplified its recommendation regarding draw order:1. Sterile tubes for culture, 2. Sodium citrate tubes, 3. Serum tubes, with or without clot activator/gel, 4. Heparin tubes, 5. EDTA tubes, then 6. Oxalate-fluoride tubes This recommendation also applies to filling vacuum tubes after specimen collection via syringe. Visit the CLSI web page at www.nccls.org. |
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