Clot activator serum tubes have significantly improved turnaround times for result reporting compared to plain tubes. With increasing workload and service performance expectations confronting clinical laboratories with high-volume testing and with particular emphasis on critical analytes, attention has focussed on preanalytical variables that can be improved. We carried out a field study on the test performance of BD vacutainer rapid serum tubes (RSTs) compared to current institutional issued BD vacutainer serum separator tubes (SSTs) in its test result comparability, clotting time, and stability on serum storage. Data from the study population ( ) of patients attending outpatient clinics and healthy subjects showed that results for renal, liver, lipids, cardiac, thyroid, and prostate biochemical markers were comparable between RSTs and SSTs. Clotting times of the RSTs were verified to be quick with a median time of 2.05？min. Analyte stability on serum storage at 4°C showed no statistically significant deterioration except for bicarbonate, electrolytes, and albumin over a period of 4 days. In conclusion, RSTs offered savings in the time required for the clotting process of serum specimens. This should translate to further trimming of the whole process from blood collection to result reporting without too much sacrifice on test accuracy and performance compared to the current widely used SSTs in most clinical laboratories. 1. Introduction The performance of laboratory services is often expected to demonstrate delivery of accurate test results in the shortest possible time. To meet service targets, turnaround times are constantly under scrutiny for further improvement. What is perhaps less understood are the various influences that determine the prompt delivery of results from the journey of the blood specimen which begins at the blood collection point and continues to testing and result reporting. Studies have indicated that much of the delay is due to factors at the preanalytical phase including specimen delivery efficiencies [1, 2]. A key factor is the clotting time of blood collected for serum testing, and current blood collection tubes (with clot activator and gel separation) require a recommended 30-min standing time for clotting. Hence, at times, specimens reaching the laboratory through a fast delivery service (example, for STAT specimens) may not have clotted completely to allow immediate testing. To mitigate the clotting time issue, some laboratories are using plasma specimens for STAT testing. However, it is known that plasma is not exactly an
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