Certified Clinical Medical Assistant CCMA Practice Test

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Prepare for the Certified Clinical Medical Assistant Exam. Practice with multiple-choice questions, detailed explanations, and comprehensive study material. Perfect your skills and ace your test!

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An MA is collecting a urine specimen from a pt for a drug screening. Which of the following actions should the assistant take to adhere to the chain of custody for this specimen?

Keep the specimen in the clinic until the end of the day.
Store the specimen in the refrigerator.
Send the specimen to the testing lab on the same day as the collection.
Discard the specimen if the patient forgets to label it.

The correct answer is: Send the specimen to the testing lab on the same day as the collection.

The correct action is to send the specimen to the testing lab on the same day as the collection. This practice is essential to maintaining the integrity of the urine specimen and adhering to the chain of custody protocols, which are critical in drug screening processes. The chain of custody ensures that the specimen is tracked and that its handling is documented to prevent any tampering or contamination. Promptly sending the specimen for analysis minimizes the risk of degradation or change in the sample that could occur if it is stored improperly or for an extended period. When considering the other options, keeping the specimen in the clinic until the end of the day could lead to unauthorized handling, risking the integrity of the sample. Storing the specimen in a refrigerator can help preserve it temporarily; however, it does not fulfill the requirement of expeditiously sending it to the lab. Discarding the specimen if it is unlabeled would be a poor practice, as proper protocols should be followed to address labeling issues without losing the sample, such as relabeling it correctly if possible.