The AM and PM phlebotomy teams are currently experiencing a severe staffing shortage. There will be delays in dispatching a phlebotomist to some areas. Due to these circumstances the phlebotomy teams cannot accept add-on requisitions that are not received in the laboratory by the times specified below. If a patient is scheduled for an early AM procedure, the blood should be drawn by nursing staff and sent to the laboratory. In order to provide service to all in-patient areas, please review the following Phlebotomy Team Policies.

Hours of Service - AM Draw
Adult Phlebotomy: 0600-0830. Phlebotomy employees arrive at 0530 and depart for patient care areas at 0600. All draws completed by 0830.

Pediatric Phlebotomy: 0530-0930. Employees arrive at 0530 and depart for patient care areas at 0600. All draws are completed by 0930. The 4th floor nursery areas will be drawn first.

Hours of Service - PM Draw
Adult and Pediatric Phlebotomy: 1800-2030. Phlebotomy employees arrive at 1700 and depart for patient care areas at 1800. All draws are completed by 2030.

To ensure timely processing of requisitions and to schedule a phlebotomy team draw on a patient the following criteria must be met:

1. Requisitions for AM phlebotomy must be in specimen control (6240 RCP) by midnight for AM draw and by 1700 for PM draw.

2. The following information MUST be on each requisition:
    a. Patient’s full name, complete and readable
    b. Nursing station and room number
    c. Ordering physician’s name, code, and signature
    d. Mark appropriate test code boxes or legibly write the test in space provided

3. For phlebotomy to perform the draw the patient must be in their room, nursing staff must draw any patient who is not in their room.

4. All patients must be wearing a readable ID bracelet. The patient care staff must personally identify any patient not wearing an ID bracelet.

5. The phlebotomy team will draw, but not deliver, any samples that are transported on ice or kept at body temperature. The patient care area must deliver these to the laboratory.

6. The phlebotomy team does not draw any patient specimens for research projects without prior approval from the Department of Pathology.

7. The adult phlebotomy team will not draw any patients who are under 5 years old.

8. The phlebotomy team is not required to draw patients who are combative, uncooperative, or who refuse the phlebotomy procedure.

9. The phlebotomy team does not draw samples from Hickman lines, Central lines, or any Central Venous Catheter.

10. If there is an ordering error by the patient care area and the patient has already been drawn, it is the responsibility of the patient care area to inform the patient of the need for a re-stick and to complete all paper work.

11. All phlebotomy team orders are considered routine. If a phlebotomy draw needs to be sent stat, it is the responsibility of the patient care area to transport the sample to the lab.

12. The phlebotomy team does not draw timed specimens since the time a phlebotomist arrives on a floor cannot be predicted.

13. Every morning and evening after the phlebotomist has completed drawing the patients on each patient care area, he/she will leave a computer sheet called a Nursing Collection Checklist at the nursing station. This is a list of all patients that were scheduled to be drawn and which tests were ordered. If the blood was drawn, the phlebotomist will write his/her initials next to the patient’s name. If the patient was not drawn, the following information will be written on the collection list:
    a. The reason why patient was not drawn
    b. The last name and title of person notified

This list is left at the nurse’s station and it is the responsibility of the patient care area to check this list and inform the physician of patients whose blood was not drawn.

14. All re-sticks due to sub-optimal quality of the specimen will be done by the phlebotomy team.

15. Please contact the Phlebotomy supervisor at 6-2858 or specimen control at 6-3527.