Purpose
To standardize the venous blood specimen collection procedures for medical laboratory testing. These guidelines are appropriate for adoption by all health care providers responsible for blood specimen collection in outpatient and inpatient settings.
Definitions
- Phlebotomy – the act of drawing or removing blood from the circulatory system through a puncture to obtain a specimen for analysis and
- Venipuncture- the puncture of a vein for surgical or therapeutic purposes, or for collecting blood specimens for
- Vascular Access Devices (VAD)-a device inserted temporarily or permanently into a vein and /or artery to allow access to the circulatory system for the administration of fluids or medications, or for various procedures.
- Preanalytical Phase- Steps before testing, including patient preparation, patient identification, specimen collection and specimen transportation.
- Standard Precautions: These are the basic infection prevention and control measures necessary to reduce the risk of transmitting infectious agents from both recognised and unrecognised sources of infection. These include hand hygiene, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), respiratory hygiene, safe injection practices, environmental cleaning, and proper handling of equipment and linens. All patients and laboratory specimens should be handled according to standard precautions.
