Free tool
Practice the standard order of draw. You get a random set of tubes; tap them in the order they should be filled, then check your sequence. It runs entirely in your browser.
Built for NHA CPT exam prepTap the tubes in the order you would fill them.
Put every tube in order, then press Check order.
The order of draw is one of the most tested patterns on the CPT exam. Encodr drills it with spaced repetition until it is automatic.
Get started freeThis is the CLSI sequence as republished by tube makers and hospital labs. It exists to stop additive from one tube being carried into the next on the needle or the stopper, and to keep sterile cultures from picking up stopper flora. For example, EDTA carried into a serum or heparin tube can raise potassium and lower calcium, and clot activator carried into a citrate tube can shorten coagulation times. Some lab charts add tubes (for example ACD and PAXgene) that are not in this six-step list, so follow your facility's chart on the job. The same order applies to a tube holder, a syringe transfer and a winged set. When a winged set is used and the first tube is a light blue, a discard tube clears the air in the tubing first.
The quiz uses only the six steps above, and a serum tube stands for red or gold. For more on the exam itself, see the NHA CPT phlebotomy course, the tube color guide and the exam pass score calculator. Medical assistants sitting the CCMA can drill the PPE donning and doffing order the same way.
The standard phlebotomy order of draw runs blood cultures, light blue, serum, green, lavender, gray. Why the sequence exists, what goes wrong when it is broken, and how to practice it.
What each blood collection tube color means: the additive, the tests it is used for, and where it falls in the order of draw. A study reference for the NHA CPT exam.
Calculate days supply for tablets, oral liquids, and insulin, rounded down to whole days - built for pharmacy technician exam prep.
Open tool →Mix a higher and a lower strength to make a desired strength and quantity - get the parts and the amount of each.
Open tool →Look up a blood collection tube by color, additive or test, with its typical use and order-of-draw step.
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