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...

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...

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...

Pulmonary embolus (PE) results in a mismatch between alveolar perfusion and ventilation, with potential for development of hypoxemia (reduced pO₂) and hypocapnia (reduced pCO₂), so that arterial blood gases (ABG) are frequently ordered for patients either suffering or suspected of suffering PE.  Is it possible to make ...

If the results of a "‘small snapshot survey" are representative, then there is a need for continued education of UK medical staff in the interpretation of arterial blood gas (ABG) results. Sixty-six medical staff of all grades and from a range of disciplines, all working at one hospital, were asked to complete a...

During air travel more than a half of all passengers suffer a degree of hypoxemia that might trigger prescription of supplemental oxygen therapy if it occurred in hospitalized patients. That is the finding of a recent study which sought to establish the effect that air travel has on measured oxygen saturation.  When...

Anemia is the collection of signs and symptoms of reduced oxygen delivery to tissues as a result of a reduction in the number of red cells and/or reduction in blood concentration of hemoglobin. In clinical practice, anemia is diagnosed if the blood concentration of hemoglobin (ctHb) is abnormally low.  The World...

We are all wary to a greater or lesser extent of the doctor advancing with needle and syringe. Arterial puncture required for blood gas analysis is a particularly painful procedure, certainly more painful than venipuncture.  Many studies have demonstrated that administration of local anesthesia is effective in...

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 ...

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...