Certified Phlebotomy Technician Exam Quality Assurance and Laboratory Operations 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the purpose of a delta check in laboratory quality assurance?
- To verify instrument calibration
- To compare a patient's current result against their previous result to flag critical changes (Correct answer)
- To check the temperature of specimen storage
- To confirm the chain of custody
Correct answer: To compare a patient's current result against their previous result to flag critical changes
A delta check compares a patient's current lab value against prior results to detect specimen mix-up, collection errors, or true critical patient changes.
Question 2: Under HIPAA, a phlebotomist may share a patient's test results with:
- Any hospital employee who asks
- The patient's family unless the patient has objected
- Only individuals authorized by the patient or directly involved in their care (Correct answer)
- Anyone in the phlebotomy department
Correct answer: Only individuals authorized by the patient or directly involved in their care
HIPAA restricts disclosure of protected health information (PHI) to only those authorized by the patient or directly involved in their care.
Question 3: Which term describes a specimen collected at the wrong time relative to medication administration?
- Icteric specimen
- Timing error (trough/peak mislabel) (Correct answer)
- Hemolyzed specimen
- Clotted specimen
Correct answer: Timing error (trough/peak mislabel)
Collecting a drug-level specimen at the wrong time (e.g., confusing trough and peak draws) is a timing error that renders therapeutic drug monitoring results invalid.
Question 4: What does 'stat' mean when applied to a laboratory request?
- Standard turnaround time
- Send to another facility
- Immediate/urgent processing required (Correct answer)
- Specimen needs special temperature handling
Correct answer: Immediate/urgent processing required
'Stat' (from Latin 'statim') means immediately, and these specimens receive priority processing with the fastest possible turnaround time.
Question 5: A patient's fasting blood glucose is ordered. How long must the patient have fasted before collection?
- 2 hours
- 4 hours
- 8–12 hours (Correct answer)
- 24 hours
Correct answer: 8–12 hours
A fasting glucose requires 8–12 hours of no caloric intake to obtain a baseline measurement unaffected by recent food consumption.
Question 6: What action should a phlebotomist take if a patient refuses to have blood drawn?
- Proceed anyway since the physician ordered it
- Restrain the patient and collect the sample
- Respect the refusal, document it, and notify the nurse or physician (Correct answer)
- Call security immediately
Correct answer: Respect the refusal, document it, and notify the nurse or physician
Patients have the right to refuse procedures; the phlebotomist must respect this, document the refusal, and inform the ordering provider.
Certified Phlebotomy Technician Exam Quality Assurance and Laboratory Operations 2
What is the purpose of a delta check in laboratory quality assurance?