Baby boy Jones born two weeks prior was brought in to the Outpatient laboratory with orders from his physician for CBC, Bilirubin, Blood Culture, 2nd Newborn screening. The phlebotomist “Christine” on duty drew the blood and the parents left with the baby. Upon receipt in the laboratory the processor noticed that the CBC had clots in the specimen microtainer tube. The Bilirubin test was highly elevated outside of normal established range, the physician was surprised at the results and asked for a recollect. After three days the Microbiology supervisor generated a report that showed the blood culture drawn on baby boy Jones was contaminated. A week later the Phlebotomy supervisor told Christine she had to call the parent of baby boy Jones back because the Newborn screen was QNS. 1. What does it mean by “clotted” CBC specimen?
2. What could have caused the clotting or clumping of sample?
3. What might have affected the Bilirubin result?
4. What does a contaminated blood culture mean?
5. What does QNS mean and give example of how this could occur in a PKU?