Preanalytic Error Tracking in a Laboratory Medicine Department: Results of a 1-Year Experience

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Abstract
Remarkable advances in technology, automation, and testing procedures have produced radical changes in laboratory organization, granting major precision and accuracy of test results. Nevertheless, errors occurring within the whole testing process still influence the quality of laboratory performance. There is heterogeneous information on the error rate within the whole laboratory testing process (from 0.1% to 9.3%) (1). Moreover, the frequencies and types of mistakes differ between one facility and another and between one time period and another (2). Process analysis has demonstrated that laboratory errors occur primarily in the preanalytic phase, influencing patient outcomes and costs (1)(2)(3). Compliance with systems of quality management, such as certification and accreditation, requires accurate procedures for identifying the processes that are more susceptible to errors (4). The Laboratory Medicine Department of the University Hospital of Verona is a laboratory service providing stat and routine tests for clinical chemistry, hematology, coagulation, and immunology, serving an area with a population of 270 000 inhabitants. The …