How to prevent clots in EDTA blood tubes

Gaskin, Danny; Yahaya, O.

doi:10.7748/ns.34.11.75.s24

Cited by 1 publication

(4 citation statements)

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“…This can be avoided through gentle inversions of the sample tubes after collection, 8 to 10 times, to mix the blood with the EDTA evenly. 29 Further, the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) and datasheets from vacuum tube manufacturers recommended that diagnostic blood samples collected in vacuum tubes should be gently inverted several times to maximize the contact between blood and additives following blood collection. 18 The use of a conventional syringe system is another reason for the high occurrence of fibrin-clotted samples.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…18 A common factor that also contributes to these errors is incidents of prolonged venipuncture. 29 The use of the syringe system continues to be practiced in various departments of this institution.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Inadequate mixing or failure to mix sample tubes following collection is a frequent reason for clotted ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) samples. This can be avoided through gentle inversions of the sample tubes after collection, 8 to 10 times, to mix the blood with the EDTA evenly 29. Further, the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) and datasheets from vacuum tube manufacturers recommended that diagnostic blood samples collected in vacuum tubes should be gently inverted several times to maximize the contact between blood and additives following blood collection 18.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…EDTA tubes are occasionally overfilled, resulting in inadequate mixing due to limited or no air space to enable proper inversions 18. A common factor that also contributes to these errors is incidents of prolonged venipuncture 29. The use of the syringe system continues to be practiced in various departments of this institution.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Detecting Preanalytical Errors Using Quality Indicators in a Hematology Laboratory

Alshaghdali

Alcantara

Rezgui

et al. 2021

Quality Management in Health Care

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Background and Objectives: Monitoring laboratory performance continuously is crucial for recognizing errors and fostering further improvements in laboratory medicine. This study aimed to review the quality indicators (QIs) and describe the laboratory errors in the preanalytical phase of hematology testing in a clinical laboratory. Methods: All samples received in the Hematology Laboratory of the Maternity and Pediatric Hospital in Hail for 3 years were retrospectively reviewed and evaluated for preanalytical issues using a set of QIs. The rate of each QI was compared to the quality specifications cited in the literature. Results: A total of 95002 blood samples were collected for analysis in the hematology laboratory from January 2017 through December 2019. Overall, 8852 (9.3%) were considered to show preanalytical errors. The most common were “clotted specimen” (3.6%) and “samples not received” (3.5%). Based on the quality specifications, the preanalytical QIs were classified generally as low and medium level of performance. In contrast, the sigma-based performance level indicates acceptable performance on all the key processes. Further analysis of the study showed a decreasing rate of preanalytical errors from 11.6% to 6.5%. Conclusions: Preanalytical errors remain a challenge to hematology laboratories. The errors in this case were predominantly related to specimen collection procedures that compromised the specimen quality. Quality indicators are a valuable instrument in the preanalytical phase that allows an opportunity to improve and explore clinical laboratory process performance and progress. Continual monitoring and management of QI data are critical to ensure ongoing satisfactory performance and to enhance the quality in the preanalytical phase.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%