LABORATORY TESTING ERRORS: PRE-ANALYTICAL, ANALYTICAL, AND POST-ANALYTICAL PHASES

Abstract

Laboratory testing is essential in patient care. Most medical decisions are based on laboratory test results. However, errors in laboratory testing can occur at different stages and these errors can impact patient care. Happ and coworkers published a study regarding the impact of laboratory testing errors on patient care in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. They indicated that nearly 85% of important clinical decisions on diagnosis or treatment were supported by laboratory tests. Of these decisions, 44% were influenced by laboratory results. In the setting of laboratory medicine being the single highest volume medical activity that influences medical decision making (70% of medical decisions are based on laboratory results), the prevalence of errors and the impact on patient care demonstrated the importance of understanding and managing errors in laboratory medicine. According to Happ's article, a systematic review by Bonini et al revealed that the quality and consistency of laboratory testing has not improved over the past 30 years. This caused the Institute of Medicine to make a quantitative patient safety objective to reduce laboratory testing errors by 50% over the next 5 years. Therefore, understanding laboratory errors and ways to prevent or manage them is extremely important and is the focus of this review. (Sutton et al.2020)