The Center for Phlebotomy Education has just released its highly anticipated Lab Draw Answer Book.

The 440-page full-color reference book answers over 400 commonly asked questions on blood sample collection and handling, and managing phlebotomy services and personnel. It's the second edition of Blood Specimen Collection FAQs, which was released in 2008, with 100 new entries and all original entries updated to fully reflect CLSI's new venipuncture standard. The second edition is co-authored by Dennis J. Ernst MT(ASCP), NCPT(NCCT) and his wife Catherine Ernst, RN, PBT(ASCP)^CM.

"Bringing Catherine on board as co-author adds a nursing perspective so necessary for a phlebotomy reference book," says Dennis Ernst. "She's been very instrumental in making sure all passages not only reflect the CLSI standards, which she helped write, but the Standards of Practice of the Infusion Nurses Society.

Chapters in the book include:

1. Safety and Infection Control
2. Training, Management and Certification
3. Skin Punctures, Heelsticks, and Pain Management
4. Patient Identification, Vein Selection, & Site Prep
5. Tourniquets & Butterflies
6. Order of Draw & Discard Tubes
7. Hemolysis and Potassium Issues
8. Blood Cultures
9. Labeling and Post-venipuncture Care
10. Line Draws & IV Starts
11. Processing, Storage, & Transportation
12. Patient Injuries & Complications
13. Unorthodox Techniques
14. Miscellaneous

Copies are currently only available from the Center for Phlebotomy Education. More information and preview pages.