Additional Specimen Collection Information

Invert the sodium citrate tube end to end 4 times to
thoroughly mix blood and anticoagulant. The tube should be left
stoppered until time of testing. Specimens stored at room
temperature should be centrifuged and tested within four hours of
specimen collection. If the testing is not completed within 4 hours
the plasma should be removed from the cells and transferred to a
plastic tube. Freeze the sample for up to two weeks. Frozen samples
should be rapidly thawed at 37°c while gently mixed. Thawed
samples should be centrifuged and tested immediately. If testing
cannot be performed immediately the sample may be held for a
maximum of 2 hours refrigerated, until tested.

• Precautions:

  • It is not recommended to use a winged blood
    collection set (Butterfly).
  • If a vacuum tube butterfly must be used, the first tube in the
    series will be under-filled. Collect a “discard citrate
    tube”, and then collect the citrate tube used for testing.
    This will ensure the proper blood to anticoagulant ratio.
  • If using a syringe, use a BD Blood Transfer Device to transfer
    blood from the syringe to the citrate tube within one minute of
    collection. Hold the syringe with the plunger in the up-right
    position and allow the vacuum present to fill the tube. Before
    collection, be sure the syringe plunger is pushed to the top of the
    syringe. The transfer device may pop up and needs to be
    held down to completely fill tube to between fill
    lines.
  • Do not “force fill” blood into a vacuum tube. This
    may result in activation of the platelets possibly leading to
    erroneous results. Allow the vacuum present to fill the tube.
  • Do not remove vacuum tube cap to add blood.
  • Specimens should be obtained from a single venipuncture with
    minimal tissue trauma. Never combine multiple blood collections
    into a single vacuum tube.
  • Never re-use a syringe that was used for a pic line saline
    flush.

Refer to the “Citrated Plasma for Coagulation Studies” protocol
in the Quality Assurance Manual.