CMT Laboratory Procedures and Specimen Collection 3

Question 1

Which personal protective equipment (PPE) is REQUIRED when handling all patient specimens in the laboratory?

Accepted Answer

Gloves, lab coat, and eye protection

Answer

Standard precautions require gloves to protect hands from blood/body fluid contact, a lab coat to protect clothing and skin, and eye protection against splashes.

Question 2

After centrifugation of a serum separator tube (SST), the specimen layers from bottom to top are:

Accepted Answer

Red blood cells → gel barrier → serum

Answer

Centrifugal force moves denser red blood cells to the bottom; the gel barrier migrates between cells and serum, leaving the lighter serum on top for testing.

Question 3

Which temperature range is required for the transport of most routine blood specimens to preserve analyte stability?

Accepted Answer

Room temperature (20°C to 25°C)

Answer

Most routine blood specimens are transported at room temperature (20–25°C) because refrigeration can cause cold agglutination or analyte precipitation that alters results.

Question 4

A specimen is rejected by the laboratory if it is received with which condition?

Accepted Answer

The tube is unlabeled or mismatched with the requisition

Answer

An unlabeled or mislabeled specimen presents a serious patient safety risk and must be rejected per laboratory policy to prevent result reporting errors.

Question 5

Quality control (QC) samples in the clinical laboratory are used primarily to:

Accepted Answer

Monitor instrument and reagent performance to detect errors before patient results are reported

Answer

Running QC samples with known values allows the laboratory to detect systematic and random errors in the testing process before those errors affect patient results.

(CMT) Certified Medical Technician Practice Test

(CMT) Certified Medical Technician Practice Test

CMT Laboratory Procedures and Specimen Collection 3