Is Phlebotomy Part of the Dark Side in the Clinical Laboratory Struggle for Quality? discusses the improper medical procedure used by 30 Phlebotomists from 10 randomly selected clinical laboratories in Brazil. Their study aimed, “To evaluate the performance of phlebotomists and to identify the major sources of errors during diagnostic blood collection.” Their observations showed that there was an overall error rate of 60% for blood collection procedure.
Quality control is a necessary aspect in all medical laboratory settings; the importance of quality control is to assure accurate test results by making sure all equipment is functioning properly and procedures are being followed correctly. By not taking these additional steps, a facility is at risk for putting out false and potentially harmful test results. The repercussions of such actions could lead to further patient illness, or in some cases, death.…show more content… Mary’s Hospital in Green Bay, I got to observe quality control testing run in almost every department in the lab. The Laboratory Technician in blood bank talked to me about the importance of running a quality control test at least once a day (sometimes twice a day in certain departments and/or specific situations). She explained that if the quality test returns with an unexpected result, the test is rerun to verify that the inaccuracy wasn’t due to human error. While I was learning about the urinalysis machine, the Technician ran out of a reagent. She told me that, although you may have the correct ratios of solution for a reagent memorized, you always need to take out the procedure sheet and follow it step-by-step when mixing a new batch of reagent; this is to assure accuracy. After the reagent it mixed, a new quality control test is
