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- FDA Releases Blood Collection Tube Conservation Strategies
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) added all blood draw tubes to its medical device shortage list on January 19. The shortage stems from an increase in demand and vendor supply challenges during the COVID-19 public health emergency, the FDA said. The agency also released several recommendations to conserve the tubes and mitigate shortages.
Previously, the FDA had issued a letter to health care and laboratory personnel on June 10, 2021, regarding a shortage of sodium citrate blood specimen collection (light blue top) tubes. The FDA action came after the CAP had also raised the shortage to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
In its latest recommendations, the FDA urged that health care providers, laboratory directors, phlebotomists, and other personnel minimize blood collection tubes by performing blood draws only if medically necessary and consider sharing samples between laboratory departments if specimens are already available. Other conservation strategies include:
- Reduce tests at routine wellness visits and allergy testing only to those that target specific disease states or where it will change patient treatment.
- Consider add-on testing or sharing samples between laboratory departments if previously collected specimens are available.
- If you need a discard tube, use a tube type that has a greater quantity available at your facility.
- Consider point of care testing that does not require using blood specimen collection tubes (lateral flow tests).
The FDA is monitoring the current situation to help ensure blood testing remains available for patients where testing is medically necessary. The CAP will share any subsequent updates with its members.