What should you do if a sample arrives with a broken tube and is unusable?

• A. Attempt to salvage
• B. Do not use; discard and recollect per policy; document
• C. Use another tube instead
• D. Ignore and still process

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is preserving sample integrity and following policy when a tube arrives broken. A broken tube means the specimen may have leaked, become contaminated, or lost volume, and the anticoagulant or additives may no longer be reliable. Because of these risks, the specimen should not be salvaged or processed as-is. The proper course is to discard the unusable sample per policy and then recollect a new sample, ensuring the correct tube type, labeling, and patient identification. It’s also important to document the incident—what happened, actions taken, and the recollection—so there’s a clear record and proper chain of custody.

Why the other approaches don’t fit: attempting salvage could contaminate or invalidate results; using another tube could alter additives and affect test accuracy; ignoring the issue and continuing would jeopardize patient safety and data integrity.