SPECIMEN ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA

SPECIMEN LABELLING

Laboratory accreditation requirements mandate that all specimens for pathology testing must be labelled with two unique identifiers in order to minimize the risk for specimen confusion.

These two identifiers are commonly :

• The patient's FIRST and LAST names
• The patient's DATE of BIRTH

If we accept a specimen for testing that does not comply with these requirements, we are required to identify these specimens so that any unexpected or unexplained anomalies can be considered by the requesting Practitioner when interpreting results.

For the protection of both patients and staff we will not accept for processing, any specimen that is unlabelled except in exceptional circumstances.

PRE-TRANSFUSION TESTING SPECIMENS

Clerical errors are responsible for the majority of fatal transfusion reactions!

All specimens for pre-transfusion testing must be labelled with TWO unique identifiers. We cannot accept for processing any specimens for pre-transfustion testing where two unique identifiers are not present.

In addition, the person responsible for the collection of the specimen MUST be identified on the Request Form.