What National Clinical Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards has to say?
Although the need for accurate and precise methodology in the laboratory is emphasised, little attention has been devoted to establishing quality control procedures for collecting and handling of blood specimen. Our highly sophisticated and well-controlled laboratory technology is useless if the specimens presented for analysis are riddled with error because of faulty identification or poor collection techniques. Proper specimen collection and specimen handling are of utmost importance because today errors are more likely to occur in these areas than during the laboratory procedure itself. Collection errors encompass incorrect identification of the patient specimens, haemolysed blood specimens and use of an incorrect anticoagulant during specimen collection. Safety Because it is often impossible to know which might be infectious, all patient blood specimens are to be treated with standard precautions. Factors that affect laboratory values: Interpretation of laboratory data has assumed
