English 
Italian A multicentre observational study evaluating the effectiveness of a phlebotomy check-list in reducing preanalytical errors
AUTORI
Claudio Ramponi8, Davide Giavarina9
1U.O. Diagnostica Ematochimica, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Parma, Parma
2S.S.D. Qualità, Dipartimento Laboratorio e Servizi, Agenzia Provinciale per i Servizi Sanitari, Trento
3U.O. Pronto Soccorso e Medicina D’Urgenza, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Parma, Parma
4Sezione di Chimica Clinica, Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e della Riproduzione, Università degli Studi di Verona
5Dipartimento di Medicina di Laboratorio, Azienda Ospedaliera, Desenzano del Garda (BS)
6Laboratorio di Patologia Clinica, Dipartimento di Medicina di Laboratorio, Azienda Ospedaliera Santa Maria degli Angeli, Pordenone
7Servizio di Medicina di Laboratorio, Azienda Ospedaliera-Università di Padova
8U.O. Medicina d'Urgenza e Pronto Soccorso, Presidio Ospedaliero S. Chiara, Trento
9Laboratorio di Chimica Clinica ed Ematologia, Ospedale S. Bortolo, Vicenza
ABSTRACT
Several preanalytical errors are attributable to inappropriate or poorly standardized activities during the venous blood collection. We designed a multicenter observational study to establish whether the implementation of a phlebotomy check-list in 7 phlebotomy centers and 4 emergency departments is effective in reducing the rate of preanalytical errors related to the blood drawing. The investigation was divided in two 3-month periods during which 5 common preanalytical errors were systematically recorded. After the introduction of the phlebotomy check-list, the rate of preanalytical errors was significantly decreased in phlebotomy centers (0.04% vs. 0.05%, P=0.001), but remained unchanged in emergency departments (0.83% vs. 0.82%, P=0.84). A significant decrease was achieved for sample identification errors and clotted specimens in phlebotomy centers and emergency departments, whereas a significant
reduction in hemolysis was noticed only in phlebotomy centers. The rate of inappropriate filling and wrong containers remained unchanged. The results obtained in this study show that the introduction of a phlebotomy check-list may help in reducing preanalytical errors related to misidentification and undue clotting.