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Article
October 2005
Patient safety: tested tools for error reduction
Laboratorians need to take ownership of errors,
identifying, analyzing and reducing them, thereby increasing
patient safety.
A Client Services Department, customer care
representatives, a service improvement coordinator, “morning
report”, electronic error tracking and reporting mechanisms,
point-of-care support...
Point-of-care testing
Information management
Process optimization
Glucose
D-dimer
Article
October 2005
Reducing phlebotomy blood loss in the NICU
Iatrogenic phlebotomy loss resulting
from the intensive clinical monitoring in the weeks
immediately following birth remains the primary
cause of neonatal anemia and the need for
red-blood-cell (RBC) transfusion.
Reducing RBC
transfusion needs in the neonatal intensive care
unit (NICU) requires new approaches for...
Neonatology
Preanalytical phase
Glucose
Lactate
Hemoglobins
Article
October 2005
Preanalytical issues related to blood sample mixing
Lack of homogeneity of a blood sample can lead to incorrect results. In this paper, the quality requirements of a sample prior to mixing, the type of samples, sample collection devices and tools and mechanics of mixing will be highlighted.
Issues related to the mixing of samples intended for hematological and blood...
Preanalytical phase
Hemoglobins
Article
July 2005
Hemoglobin and its measurement
Methods for the measurement of hemoglobin (Hb) were first
developed well over a century ago, so that hemoglobin was among the
first diagnostic blood tests available to clinicians during the
first decades of the 20th century when laboratory medicine was in
its infancy.
Today it is the most frequently requested blood...
Preanalytical phase
Article
July 2005
Capillary blood gas and the big picture
Blood gases are measured from an arterial blood sample to evaluate the respiratory adequacy and oxygen status of the critically ill patient. For the adult patient, the arterial blood is sampled either by arterial puncture or from an indwelling catheter.
In neonates and children, the wish to minimize iatrogenic blood...
Neonatology
Blood gases/acid-base
Preanalytical phase
Glucose
Lactate
Article
July 2005
Neonatal capillary blood sampling
Capillary blood sampling via a heel lance is the most common procedure performed in hospitalized neonates. Adequate training and supervision of the personnel performing the procedure is necessary to prevent/minimize inadequate sampling volumes, false laboratory results and complications such as pain. Efforts should be ...
Preanalytical phase
Neonatology
Glucose
Lactate
Article
June 2005
Arterial blood collection - part 1 of 2
The collection of arterial specimens with glass syringes
and immediate storage in iced water was the accepted industry
standard for many years. Practice has changed over the past several
years to blood gas sample collection in plastic syringes, likely
due to the cost, safety and convenience of plastic.
This change
...
Quality assurance
Blood gases/acid-base
Hemoglobins
Article
June 2005
Activity-based costing: selecting the right equipment for POC
As point-of-care testing (POCT) becomes more popular in
healthcare institutions because of its ability to deliver
high-quality results at the bedside, point-of-care coordinators
(POCCs) are becoming increasingly tasked with controlling costs.
To
deal with this responsibility, POCCs often turn to equipment to
solve...
Point-of-care testing
Article
June 2005
Reducing sharps injury risk in intensive care
Five years of data on percutaneous injuries (PIs) from the EPINet multi-hospital sharps injury database at the University of Virginia were analyzed to understand exposure risks faced by personnel in intensive care/critical care settings.
Of 687 PIs in intensive care units (ICUs), nurses had the highest proportion of...
Quality assurance
Blood gases/acid-base
Preanalytical phase
Article
May 2005
Patient safety: Find the error behind the error
Lately, everybody seems to be talking about reducing
testing errors and improving patient safety. But where do you
begin?
The answer may be to look beyond the error itself and
instead focus on what is causing it. Michael Astion, Associate
Professor, Director of the University of Washington’s Reference
Laboratory...
Information management
Point-of-care testing
Process optimization