La catena di custodia: problematiche generali ed esperienza nella Azienda Sanitaria Locale Napoli 1 Centro

AUTORI

ABSTRACT

The chain of custody: general issues and the experience of the Azienda Sanitaria Locale of Naples (Italy)

The toxicology laboratories were created at the end of 1996 within the city area of Naples (Italy) and, so far, have gained an important experience. Their tasks are to monitor drug abuse, the use of metadone and buprenorphine and the diagnosis and monitoring of alcoholism through the screening of urine and serum samples. From this long-lasting experience, we realized that one of the main critical concern of this activity is the implementation and the maintenance of the custody chain, that is especially needed in the presence of forensic issues. The aim of this paper is to analyze the Italian national and regional laws and administrative indications on this topic. We dedicated a particular interest to the rules established by the Regione Campania, where the laboratory is situated. After considering that a high percentage of samples non-conformities were due to the lack of a proper chain of custody (i.e. 66.7%), we adopted a specific procedure based on the use of a dedicated kit containing both the tubes for a safe sample collection and the related documents. A large amount of time was dedicated to illustrate and diffuse the procedure to the nurses and the other personnel working mainly in the First Aid centers of the Azienda Sanitaria Locale of Naples. The collected data show that the percentage of the unsuitable samples decreased to 38% at the end of the year 2017 when the information and training courses succeeded in involving all the dedicated personnel. We plan to revise periodically the procedures and reinforce the message to further optimize the results

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