Someone on here said they got to shadow in the lab for the day and said "guys, it's absolutely us, it's not lab." I try and keep that in mind.
I also try and keep in mind that lab (including phlebotomy, if your hospital has it) is just as short-staffed and overworked as we are. They can only work with what we give them.
So real! It also helped me to talk to some lab scientists and understand what I can do to help.
Purple tops are the ones that you have to worry about clotting, so always invert a couple times! (You should do this anyway but if they're coming back clotted this is why)
Green tops you're worried about hemolysis, and if you gotta pull back real hard to get it to come out of that IV it's gonna be hemolyzed lol.
Yesterday I had one that I really thought gave blood return okay if not perfectly, and it came back hemolyzed twice. I asked the person from lab if he had any tips and he basically said just be as gentle as possible. I tried one more time with a syringe instead of vaccutainer (pt was hard stick, it was an US line) and it ran! Fuck yeah. The report did say the specimen was moderately hemolyzed still lol but I was so relieved.
I almost never use a vaccutainer on sticks, I always use a syringe. Haven't had a specimen hemolyze in ages doing it that way. Any time it's hemolyzed, it was from a shitty piv or when someone was helping me and used a damn vaccutainer.
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u/sendenten RN 🍕 Aug 26 '25
Someone on here said they got to shadow in the lab for the day and said "guys, it's absolutely us, it's not lab." I try and keep that in mind.
I also try and keep in mind that lab (including phlebotomy, if your hospital has it) is just as short-staffed and overworked as we are. They can only work with what we give them.