title: An integrated system for monitoring the quality of sample transportation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Due to the consolidation of laboratory testing facilities, there is an increasing need for systems able to assure quality and safety in biological sample transportation, although little evidence on this aspect is available in literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  An integrated system for sample transportation, implemented and monitored over a five-year period by our team, consists of secondary and tertiary containers, a device for temperature and time recording, and a system manager allowing the acceptance or rejection of biological samples through the immediate visualization and validation of registered data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data collected between 2009 and October 2011, after a preliminary phase for optimizing the temperature inside the containers, demonstrated the frequency of transportations at an acceptable temperature (<20 °C) had increased and that of transportations at an excessively high temperature (>25 °C) had decreased by ~80%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The integrated system and related operating instructions allow improvement in the quality of sample transportation over time.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, University-Hospital, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zaninotto
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tasinato
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Padoan
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vecchiato
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pinato
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sciacovelli
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Plebani
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D011786:Quality Control; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D013696:Temperature; D014186:Transportation