Drawing blood samples

EHES Training Materials

Exclusion criteriaBlood samples are not taken, if participant

• Has a chronic illness which restricts taking blood samples

• Has anemia (Hb below 10 g/l)• Doubts about the blood volume to be taken• Refuses

Equipment • Blood sampling vacuum

tubes• Needle for vacuum tubes• Needleholder/adapter• Needle disposal container• Stasis• Disinfection solution,

swabs, gauze pads, skin tape

• Disposable gloves

Blood collection tubes• Serum evacuated

tubes containing gel or plain serum tubes (red cap)

• Fluoride-citrate plasma tube (grey cap)

• EDTA plasma tubes (violet cap)

Preparing for the blood collection

• Check participant’s ID code

• Place the code label on the form

• Record length of time from the last meal in full hours

• Participant rests 10-15 minutes

• Use gloves or disinfect hands

Posture of the subject• Sitting position, hand

downward, palm upwards• Before blood collection, ask

the participant to remove tight clothes that might constrict the upper arm

• If participant tells that he/she easily faints, supine posture due to safety of the participant

• Take blood from the arm not used for BP measurement • usually left arm

Protocol 1/8• Gently tap top of the

fluoride citrate plasma tube if it contains granules

• Release cover from the end of the needle and connect the holder and sample needle

• Apply tourniquet (if needed) to search a vein• Limit the use of the

tourniquet to less than one minute at a time

Protocol 2/8• Place the arm in a

downward position and disinfect the puncture site

• Remove the protector case from the needle

• Perform the venipuncture

Protocol 3/8• Collect blood first into

the 2 plain serum tubes

• Press the tube to puncture the stopper and start filling

• Loosen the tourniquet when the bloodstream runs

• Support the tube during filling

Protocol 4/8• When the bloodstream

stops, take the tube out of the holder

• Check that the tube is filled to the accurate volume

• Mix the plain serum tube 5 times by inverting the tube completely top-down immediately after taking the tube out of the holder

Protocol 5/8• Fill the fluoride-citrate

plasma tube• Immediately after

taking the fluoride-citrate tube out of the holder, mix 15 times by inverting the tube completely top-down

Protocol 6/8• Fill the 3 EDTA tubes • Mix the plain EDTA

tubes 5 times by inverting the tube completely top-down immediately after taking the tube out of the holder

• Store all tubes in a vertical position until sample handling

Protocol 7/8• Remove the needle

from the vein• Apply pressure

immediately on the puncture site with a gauze pad until bleeding stops

Protocol 8/8• Label the successfully

filled blood sampling tubes according to the sampling chart

• Discard needles into a needle dispose container and all other materials contaminated with blood into a biological waste container

RecordingRecord: • Deviations from the blood drawing protocol• Your initials/personnel code to identify who draw

the blood samples

Acknowledgements• Slides

• Laura Lund, Päivikki Koponen• Photographs

• Hanna Tolonen• Measurement demonstration

• Saara Vallivaara, Maarit Kajosaari