Reference no: EM133546222

A phlebotomist was acting as a preceptor for a phlebotomy student from the local college and was anxious to help her learn all the special tests that had not been practiced in class. When a STAT blood culture and lytes on a patient in the ICU were ordered, the preceptor quickly grabbed the student and they headed for the floor.

It was clear after looking at the patient that they would have to use a butterfly in a hand vein to collect the test specimens. The preceptor was busy helping the student prepare the site, and while setting out the equipment needed, he did not pay close attention to the order in which the media bottles were placed.

The student was elated that she was able to access the difficult vein and that blood was flowing freely into the anaerobic bottle. After filling both anaerobic and aerobic bottles to the proper level, she proceeded to draw an SST for electrolytes from the same site.

The blood flow was now very slow, with blood entering the tube only a drop at a time. After patiently waiting for the tube to fill, both she and the preceptor were relieved to get finished. Almost immediately after returning to the la and processing the sample, they were sent back to redraw the electrolytes because the potassium value was too high. Before leaving, the preceptor took more blood culture equipment because he knew that the BC's would have to be redrawn also.

1. What had caused the potassium to be too high?

2. Why might they have expected this problem during the collection?

3. Why did the preceptor have the student redraw the BC also?