GENERAL LABORATORY NOTES for BLOOD BANK

Specimen requirements

No special preparation of the patient is required prior to specimen collection.  Blood should be collected by approved techniques.  An adult requires 6ml EDTA (lavender) top and pediatrics under 10 years old require 3ml EDTA (lavender) top. Blood specimen labels should contain the patient's first and last names, medical record number, date of birth, the date and time specimen drawn and legible signature of the person drawing the blood.

No specimen will be accepted for testing if the patient's first and last names, the medical record number or the date of birth on the blood sample, request forms or labels do not agree in case of discrepancy or doubt, another specimen shall be obtained. Mislabeled or unlabeled blood samples will not be released from the Blood Bank.

Significant hemolysis is a cause for redraw of the patient's blood sample.
All Blood Bank requests requiring a specimen must be submitted to the Blood Bank within 6 hours of draw.

Hold specimens are accepted for trauma and OB patients only and are kept for 72 hours.  All other hold specimen requests are processed as type and antibody screen.  Crossmatches can be performed using any of the above mentioned specimens if requested within the 72-hour period.  RNs from the pre- evaluation service who have received special in-service education provided by the Blood Bank can be certified to waive the 72-hour rule.