Keywords
Pediatrics
Clinical Laboratory Services
Quality Control
Quality Indicators
Health Care
How to Cite
Abstract
Introduction: The pre-analytical phase includes: the request for the test, the preparation of the patient, the collection of the primary sample and the transport to and within the laboratory. In general, some of these procedures are not carried out by laboratory personnel; therefore, their standardization and control are difficult. Objectives: To evaluate preanalytical errors related to sample collection, conservation and transport. Materials and methods: Descriptive-observational study. The hematology samples collected between January 1 and December 31 2019 were analyzed in the stat laboratory of the “Sor María Ludovica” Children’s Hospital, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Five harmonized quality indicators were alculated. We discriminated between extractions carried out by laboratory personnel and hospital room personnel. The results were compared with the quality specifications of the Working Group on Laboratory Errors and Patient Safety (WG-LEPS) and the Six Sigma (6S) metric. Results: A total of 13568 simples were analyzed. A total of 739 (5.45 %) preanalytical errors were found, the most frequent being clotted samples (77 %), for which an unacceptable performance was obtained according to WG-LEPS and minimal performance according to the 6S metrics. A better performance was obtained in the extractions carried out by laboratory personnel compared to those carried out by hospital room personnel. Conclusions: The percentage of preanalytical errors was higher than that observed by laboratories in the general population. For all quality indicators, the laboratory had a better performance than the hospital rooms.
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