Phlebotomy Patient Preparation Practice Questions
Patient Preparation makes up 10 of every 50 questions on a Tigertest Phlebotomy practice test. Here are 10 of the 40 questions on it, each with the answer and the reason.
Updated by the Tigertest team. Weighted to the NHA CPT test plan. Order of draw and technique follow CLSI GP41 and GP42.
1. Which set of information must appear on a laboratory requisition before a phlebotomist collects the specimen?
- A.Patient's copay amount and preferred appointment time
- B.Patient identifiers, ordering provider, and tests
- C.Phlebotomist's badge number and the tube lot numbers
- D.Patient's employer, emergency contact, and pharmacy name
Answer: B. A requisition must identify the patient, the ordering provider and the tests (plus details such as priority and date). Billing or contact details like the copay or employer do not authorize or define the collection.
2. A requisition marked STAT arrives for an emergency department patient while routine and ASAP orders are waiting. How should it be handled?
- A.Collect it after finishing the ASAP orders first
- B.Hold it for the next scheduled morning sweep
- C.Collect it within the shift, like any routine order
- D.Collect it immediately, ahead of the other orders
Answer: D. STAT means the result is needed immediately because the patient is critical, so it takes priority over everything else. ASAP is urgent but less so than STAT, so it does not go first.
3. A provider orders a serum cortisol to be collected at exactly 0800 and again at 1600. Which priority category describes this order?
- A.Timed
- B.STAT
- C.ASAP
- D.Routine
Answer: A. A timed order must be collected as close as possible to the specified times, here because cortisol shows diurnal variation. STAT and ASAP describe urgency, not a scheduled collection time.
4. A requisition lists a PT/INR, but the labels printed for the patient are for a CBC. What should the phlebotomist do first?
- A.Draw both tubes and let the lab decide
- B.Handwrite PT/INR over the printed CBC labels
- C.Resolve the discrepancy before collecting anything
- D.Draw a lavender tube to match the labels
Answer: C. The order, the labels and the tubes must agree before the draw, so the mismatch has to be clarified first. Drawing to match the labels could produce the wrong test entirely.
5. A handwritten order is partly illegible, and the phlebotomist cannot tell which chemistry test was requested. What is the best action?
- A.Draw one tube of every color to be safe
- B.Choose the test most often ordered on the unit
- C.Ask the ordering provider or nurse to clarify
- D.Ask the patient which test the doctor wanted
Answer: C. An unclear order must be clarified with the person who wrote it or the patient's nurse before collection. Guessing, or relying on the patient's memory, risks the wrong test and an unnecessary repeat stick.
6. When a phlebotomist is permitted by facility policy to accept a verbal order to add a test, which practice is expected?
- A.Write it down and read it back to confirm
- B.Accept it without documentation if it came from a nurse
- C.Have the patient sign the order in place of the provider
- D.Remember it and enter it at the end of the shift
Answer: A. Verbal orders are written down and read back to the person giving them, a Joint Commission safety practice, and then documented per policy. Relying on memory or skipping documentation invites errors.
7. On a computer-generated laboratory requisition, what is the main purpose of the test code printed beside each test?
- A.Showing the patient's room and bed number
- B.Listing the patient's diagnosis for insurance billing
- C.Recording the time the specimen was collected
- D.Identifying the specific test to perform
Answer: D. Test codes are the laboratory's shorthand for a specific test so the right analysis is run. The diagnosis is carried by the separate ICD-10-CM code, not the test code.
8. Which pair of identifiers is acceptable for positive patient identification before a blood collection?
- A.Bed number and attending physician
- B.Full name and date of birth
- C.Name on the chart at the bedside
- D.Full name and room number
Answer: B. The Joint Commission requires two person-specific identifiers such as name and date of birth or medical record number. A room or bed number is a location, and the chart alone does not prove who is in the bed.
9. A phlebotomist greets an outpatient before a draw. Which question best confirms the patient's identity?
- A.You are my nine o'clock appointment, correct?
- B.Please state and spell your full name.
- C.Are you Maria Lopez?
- D.Is this your requisition for today?
Answer: B. Asking the patient to state and spell the name is an open-ended check the patient must answer with real information. A yes-or-no question like "Are you Maria Lopez?" can be answered yes by a confused or hard-of-hearing patient.
10. An inpatient's wristband shows a medical record number that differs from the number on the requisition. What should the phlebotomist do?
- A.Use the room number to decide which is correct
- B.Draw and note the difference on the tube label
- C.Trust the requisition because the lab printed it
- D.Hold the draw until the nurse resolves it
Answer: D. Any mismatch between the wristband and the requisition stops the draw until it is corrected through the nurse or registration. Collecting anyway risks a misidentified specimen, which is a leading cause of transfusion and treatment errors.
Practice all 40 patient preparation questions, and the rest of the 200-question bank, in the free Phlebotomy training sets. Questions you miss come back until you have mastered them.
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