Specimen HandlingQuestion 74 of 100
Serum is transferred into a secondary aliquot tube for send-out testing. What must be done?
a.Leave it unlabeled because the parent tube is labeled
b.Write only the accession number on the cap
c.Label the aliquot with the same patient identifiers as the original tube
d.Combine aliquots from the same patient collected on different days
Explanation
Every aliquot is an independent specimen and must carry the same patient identifiers as the parent tube so identity is never lost. Relying on the parent tube or writing an identifier only on a removable cap breaks the chain of identification. Pooling specimens collected at different times mixes results from different clinical moments and is never acceptable.
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