24% of diagnostic errors are associated with a negative impact on patient care, one study concluded.¹

Every sample represents a patient.

To a patient, a diagnostic test represents a critical step in the journey to proper treatment. Caregivers must take every precaution to provide a positive experience, from correct patient identification to comfort and confidence in sample collection.

Behind the scenes, the staff is working in the hospital, at the collection centre, in transport and in the laboratory with a multitude of tasks and performance goals that aren't patient-facing. However, these are indirect processes that have a direct impact on test results and subsequent patient care. The patient must be at the heart of the entire specimen pathway—because in the end, what does a sample represent?

1 million needlestick injuries are estimated to occur in Europe every year.²

Protecting healthcare workers to protect patients

Confident, competent and well-equipped staff can help promote workplace satisfaction, performance and positive patient outcomes. Inversely, staff that are burnt out and short in numbers are more likely to make mistakes that can leave a clinical impact.³ In fact, studies show that a possible cause of needlestick injury occurrence is inadequate or short staffing.⁴

With a shortage of skilled workers, you need long-term initiatives that protect your team and patients alike.

Up to 62% of diagnostic errors occur in the preanalytical phase.¹

The complexity of diagnostic stewardship

Confident, competent and well-equipped staff can help promote workplace satisfaction, performance and positive patient outcomes. Inversely, staff that are burnt out and short in numbers are more likely to make mistakes that can leave a clinical impact.³ In fact, studies show that a possible cause of needlestick injury occurrence is inadequate or short staffing.⁴

With a shortage of skilled workers, you need long-term initiatives that protect your team and patients alike.

6% of samples in the emergency department are rejected, one study concluded.⁵

The origins of diagnostic error

At the time of collection, specimens are intended to represent a patient's condition in order to provide a reliable diagnosis. Maintaining and monitoring sample quality throughout the diagnostic pathway is therefore crucial. Specimen non-conformities at one stage can be carried into the next, and you don’t always have the visibility to know where to trace the source of haemolysis or contamination before they become non-conforming samples or false-negative/positive results.

Sample quality is the result of a lot of little things working together. However, major decisions such as the choice between a catheter and a wingset, or how a sample is stored, can result in consequential changes to the sample's integrity.

Sample loss and damages are attributed to more than 3% of all errors, according to one study⁶

The reality of sample transportation

A lot can affect a sample in the preanalytical phase. In fact, most laboratory errors occur before the sample ever reaches the lab itself.⁷

• Prolonged transportation can impact quality and cause a sample to be rejected⁸
• Irregular storage temperatures can lead to haemolysis⁹

All preanalytical errors, including those in that occur in sample transportation, have the potential to affect the duties of the analytical and postanalytical phases, thus impacting diagnosis and treatment.^10,11

The control, or lack thereof, that you have over the sample pathway can influence its overall integrity. When the process isn’t streamlined in an effective way, clinical results could vary due to poor sample quality.

Digitalisation can give you the control needed to boost the quality and value of your processes by helping to eliminate nonconformity in the sample⁶ pathway, resulting in better clinical results.¹⁰