Gold tubes correspond to which draw?

• A. 2nd draw
• B. 3rd draw
• C. 4th draw
• D. 5th draw

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is how the order of draw is arranged to keep each tube’s additive from affecting the others. Gold tubes are serum separator tubes that contain a clot activator and a gel. They’re used when you need serum for chemistry tests, so you want to collect them after the tubes that set up the sample while still keeping the clotting process effective and the serum clean for analysis.

In this NHCO sequence, the gold (serum separator) tube is taken after the earlier tubes in the draw order. This positioning helps two things: it allows blood to clot and form serum, and it prevents any clot activator or gel from contaminating tubes that require anticoagulants or other additives used for different tests. If the gold tube were drawn too early, its additives could interfere with subsequent tests; if drawn too late, the serum may not separate properly after clotting.

So, gold tubes correspond to the stage in the draw where serum for chemistry testing is collected, following the initial tubes and before later additive-containing tubes.