To the Point® Articles

To the Point® Article — Collection Protection

A compilation of articles that originally appeared in Phlebotomy Today, this document discusses key concepts to protect healthcare workers from exposure when collection and handling blood samples. Sections include lab coats, face & foot protection, gloves, handwashing, sharps containers, hazardous practices, and safety needles. (11,345 words, 27 pages)

To the Point® Article — Eight Questions Everyone Who Draws Blood MUST Answer Correctly

Compiled from a series of articles originally published in our flagship newsletter, Phlebotomy Today, this download asks eight questions that all healthcare professionals who draw blood must get right. Lengthy discussions on the merits of each question are included as well as the correct answer you, your staff, or your students must be able to provide. Questions include, “Do you know the limits to needle relocation?”, “Do you perform a two-point check for bleeding?”, and “Do you prioritize veins according to risk?” (4,700 words, 9 pages)

To the Point Article® — Garbage In/Garbage Out

The most sophisticated testing equipment and skilled technical personnel cannot extract an accurate test result from a blood sample that is drawn, transported, or processed incorrectly. Adapted from a series that originally appeared in Phlebotomy Today-STAT!, this article identifies the most commonly committed preanalytical errors that compromise sample integrity and provides strategies to prevent their occurrence. Topics include blood culture contamination, the order of draw, proper filling and mixing, analyte stability, and centrifugation errors. (7,000 words, 15 pages)

To the Point® Article — Difficult Draws

This article discusses the most common reasons venipunctures are unsuccessful. Patient variables discussed that make venipunctures difficult include obesity, rolling veins, collapsing veins and apprehensive patients. Collector variables and appropriate equipment selection are also addressed. (2,862 words, 5 pages)

To the Point® Article — Drawing Under Special Conditions

When posed with the challenge of drawing from patients with fragile veins, edema, mastectomies, and IV infusions, finding a suitable site requires careful consideration. This article discusses the latest thinking on drawing outside the antecubital area, draws above and below an IV, venipunctures and capillary punctures on mastectomy patients, and geriatric considerations. (2,073 words, 4 pages)

To the Point® Article — Handling Patients With Needle Phobia

Experts say between 5 and 17 percent of the population are deathly afraid of needles, and that there have been 23 documented deaths attributable to needle-phobic reactions. This article discusses strategies to calm the fears of needle-phobic patients and minimize the pain and trauma they suffer. (2,771 words, 6 pages)

To the Point® Article — How Phlebotomists Can Alter Potassium Results

Those who inadvertently alter potassium results due to specimen collection errors can cause physicians to diagnose, medicate, and manage their patients in ways that are life-threatening. This article discusses ten of the most common errors collectors commit that alter potassium results and how to avoid them. (4,181 words, 10 pages)

To the Point® Article — Mastering Pediatric Phlebotomy

This article is excerpted from Chapter 6 of Phlebotomy for Nurses and Nursing Personnel, and discusses capillary punctures and pediatric venipunctures. Topics include equipment and site selection for skin punctures, strategies to calm the fears of apprehensive children, and important considerations for neonatal venipunctures. (4,935 words, 11 pages)

To the Point® Article — OSHA Update

The key to safety and compliance is a regular review of the OSHA standards as they pertain to specimen collection, processing and handling. This lesson provides an update of key provisions of the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard. Topics include glove use, plastic collection tubes and bottles, wearing lab coats and other PPE during specimen processing and testing, tube holder reuse, and more. (4,610 words, 10 pages)

To the Point® Article — Pediatric Pointers

This article discusses what those who draw blood specimens from pediatric patients must know in order to minimize the trauma of the experience for the child, obtain specimens that are not affected by preanalytical errors, protect the child from injury, and safeguard the collector from accidental exposures. Pointers include proper site selection, prewarming techniques, strategies to calm fears, proper positioning, and performing a painless venipuncture. (2,205 words, 5 pages)

To the Point® Article — Phlebotomy’s Best-Kept Secret: The Order of Draw

Filling blood collection tubes in the wrong order has been shown to affect test results, which can have serious and life-threatening consequences to the patient. This article discusses the history, theory, and the current CLSI standard on the order in which collection tubes must be filled. (2,410 words, 5 pages)

To the Point® Article — Preanalytical Errors that Occur Before Collection

Those who draw blood specimens can significantly alter the results the laboratory reports, leading to patient mismanagement. This lesson discusses those errors collectors can make before specimen collection that can lead to erroneous results. Topics include: patient identification, time of draw, excessive tourniquet time, effects of diet, chronobiology, posture, etc. (5,153 words, 10 pages)

To the Point® Article — Preanalytical Errors that Occur During Collection

This lesson continues the series on preanalytical errors, discussing those errors that collectors can make while obtaining the specimen, that can alter results. Topics include: the order of draw, hemolysis, underfilling tubes, etc. (3,916 words, 8 pages)

To the Point® Article — Preanalytical Errors that Occur After Collection

This lesson — the final installment in our series on preanalytical errors — discusses those errors that collectors can make during specimen processing and transport that can alter results. Topics include delays in separation, affects of temperature, delays in testing, etc. (3,873 words, 8 pages)

To the Point® Articles — Preanalytical Trilogy

Three of the most popular articles downloaded by healthcare professionals from the Center for Phlebotomy Education’s web site are its preanalytical errors trilogy.

• Preanalytical Errors That Occur Before Collection
• Preanalytical Errors That Occur During Collection
• Preanalytical Errors That Occur After Collection

Regularly $59.97 if purchased separately, the 25-page trilogy is only $49.95, a discount of more than 30%. The articles, immediately downloadable as Adobe PDF documents, contain the most current information available on preanalytical errors, and are consistent with CLSI standards.

To the Point® Article — Risks To Phlebotomists: Allergies, Ergonomics, & Needles

If you are employed in healthcare, latex allergies, accidental needlesticks, and back injuries can be minor or catastrophic to your way of life. This lesson discusses the most common work-related injuries those who perform specimen collection procedures are vulnerable to and offers strategies to prevent them. (3,104 words, 6 pages)

To the Point® Article — See You In Court!

This article discusses the most common errors specimen collection personnel and their managers make that bring liability for patient injuries on the facility. Written by an expert witness in phlebotomy-related lawsuits, this article uses actual case studies to illustrate key concepts that must be understood to reduce your facility’s vulnerability. Readers score themselves on their potential to inflict a phlebotomy-related injury. (8,528 words, 17 pages)

To the Point® Article — What Every Phlebotomist MUST Know

Based on the latest CLSI standards (H3-A6, H18-A3), this article discusses critical components that every phlebotomist must know to perform venipunctures safely and successfully. Topics include: patient identification, the the order of draw, site and vein selection, nerve injuries, labeling of specimens, professionalism, and much more. (3,810 words, 9 pages)

To the Point® Article — When Professionals Aren’t

This article discusses unprofessional behavior and the impression it gives to patients. Topics include telephone etiquette, approaching patients, off-color jokes, sexual innuendos, horseplay, immodest attire, and more. (1,870 words, 5 pages)

To the Point® Article — If Tubes Could Talk

If you’ve ever wondered what a conversation with a red-top tube would be like, you’re not alone. We’re so curious as to what tubes would say if they could talk that we sent the editor of our newsletter, Phlebotomy Today, out on an assignment. The result: exclusive interviews with the cast of characters you work with every day. This download reveals the hidden personalities of Red-Top, Blue-Top, Purple-Top, and Green-Top tubes, and offers suggestions on their “care and feeding” in their own words. (7,437 words, 15 pages)

To the Point® Article — Reducing Pain During Infant and Pediatric Phlebotomy

Would you like to lessen the pain your younger patients feel when you perform their venipuncture? You’re not alone. A great deal has been published that sheds light on pain reduction during venipuncture. This article, the most exhaustive literature review on the subject, summarizes the results of nearly 50 published studies on pain reduction techniques, strategies, and anesthetics. Categories include parental involvement, oral analgesics, aromatherapy, topical anesthetics, iontophoresis, and touch therapy. (4,074 words, 7 pages)

Venipuncture Tutor

The Center for Phlebotomy Education‘s Venipuncture Tutor is a highly detailed, extensively researched and referenced article with illustrations on the venipuncture procedure. Written and developed by Dennis J. Ernst MT(ASCP), one of the most highly respected and widely published authorities on the subject, this document provides the most current information available to all who perform, supervise and teach blood collection procedures. We have painstakingly researched every detail in this document, illustrated the text with over 25 photographs, and provided information based on the latest Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) venipuncture standard, Procedures for the Collection of Diagnostic Blood Specimens by Venipuncture (Document H3-A6). (8,037 words, 17 pages)
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