title: Causes of rejection of blood samples handled in the clinical laboratory of a University Hospital in Porto Alegre.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Errors in clinical laboratories have a great impact on safety and care of patients. The pre-analytical phase is responsible for about 70% of errors. Hence, the objective was to determine what types of pre-analytical errors for improvements at this stage, and contribute data to the literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  Every three months during the study, the rejected blood samples were assessed for type of pre-analytical error and home care.
  
  
  RESULTS
  77,051 blood samples were collected in the search period, whereof 441 (0.57%) were rejected by some type of pre-analytical error and therefore had to be recollected. Clot was found to be the major cause of rejection of samples, 43.8%, followed by insufficient sample volume, 24%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study has shown that the most frequent causes of pre-analytical errors and rejection of samples corroborate those found in the literature.
authors: Centro Universitário Metodista do IPA, Biomedicine Course, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. aguimaraes@hcpa.ufrgs.br
authors: Alexandre C
authors: AC
authors: Guimarães
authors: Marilei
authors: M
authors: Wolfart
authors: Maria L L
authors: ML
authors: Brisolara
authors: Caroline
authors: C
authors: Dani
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D001777:Blood Coagulation; D001938:Brazil; D002623:Chemistry Techniques, Analytical / Q000379:methods; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques; D006801:Humans; D007755:Laboratories, Hospital; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D018962:Phlebotomy / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013048:Specimen Handling; D013997:Time Factors