NHA Phlebotomy Certification Practice Exam

Disable ads (and more) with a membership for a one time $4.99 payment

Prepare for the NHA Phlebotomy Certification Exam. Learn with study guides and multiple choice questions. Each question offers detailed explanations. Achieve success on your certification test.

Practice this question and more.

True or False: The liquid portion of a specimen collected in a tube containing EDTA is serum.

True
False
N/A
Not applicable

The correct answer is: False

The correct answer is that the statement is false. When a blood specimen is collected in a tube containing EDTA (ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid), the liquid portion that is obtained after centrifugation is known as plasma, not serum. Plasma is the component that remains when blood is anticoagulated and is subjected to centrifugation, allowing the cells to settle at the bottom while the liquid portion stays on top. Since EDTA is an anticoagulant, it prevents the blood from clotting, which means that fibrinogen and other clotting factors remain present in the liquid portion. This makes it distinctly different from serum, which is the liquid obtained after blood has clotted and is then centrifuged, resulting in the removal of clotting factors. Understanding this distinction is crucial for phlebotomists, as the choice of collection tube and the type of specimen can significantly impact laboratory testing and results.