Color stopper- Some of the tests performed with the light blue top tube include routine coagulation with prothrombin time (PT), partial thromboplastin time (PTT), thrombin time (TT), fibrinogen, fibrin degradation products (FDP) and D-dimer. The yellow upper tube contains sodium polyanethol sulfonate and is used for blood culture samples or acid-citrate dextrose (ACD solution A or ACD solution B). To carry out an anticoagulant blood test, another type of tube that does not contain a clot activator is required. Although the red top tube can be used for a similar process, gray top tubes are preferred when there is a delay in measuring glucose levels.
What do the color stoppers on collection tubes mean?
Vacutainer tubes, as they are collectively known, were developed by Joseph Kleiner in 1947 and are currently manufactured by Becton, Dickinson and Company, a global provider of medical care for the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. While the number of colors may seem overwhelming for normal people, healthcare professionals are trained to draw blood and distinguish one test tube from another, as required by the sample being withdrawn. Nonetheless, phlebotomy technicians are trained to use each one and take blood samples with the utmost care. It has a colored rubber stopper that creates a vacuum seal inside the hose so that a specified volume of liquid can be sucked in.
What does the color of the rubber stopper or rubber cap on a blood tube indicate?
If you choose to rotate a conical tube in a flat tube adapter, you can expect the tube to crack under centrifugal force. Hold the device firmly and place your fingers against the patient’s arm. Use the flange as a lever when pulling out and inserting the tubes With a sterile blood lancet, puncture the side of the heel in the appropriate areas shown in green above. The additives present in vacutainer tubes play the most important role, as each additive has a unique function, and these are selected according to the tests to be carried out.
It is important to remove the tube from the vein before removing the needle, as there may still be some suction left in the tube, which may cause pain or discomfort to the patient when pulled out.
What are the different colors on the blood sample tubes?
Vacutainer tubes work on the pressure difference that creates between the blood vessel and the vacuum in the tubes, which forces the blood through the needle into the tube. In addition, the exact volume that should be taken from a particular vacutainer tube is shown on the label of each tube to minimize the errors that can occur if more or less blood is drawn into the tube, as each tube is an anticoagulant or additive or clot activator In some and the ratio of blood to the additive must be maintained to obtain the exact values of the tests. These tubes are available with or without a safety lock (rubber stopper in the plastic cap), with a wide range of labeling options and sealing colors, as well as a range of draw volumes.
