What Students Need To Know About Laboratory Sample Management.

The quality of the samples employed in testing determine the quality of work that any given laboratory produces. At each step of the sample management workflow a diligent and proactive attitude is required. Sample management both before and after analysis contributes to high laboratory through puts greater efficiency of analysis and also helps build good customer relations through confidence building. Each sample should be clearly labeled with: • the patient’s first and last name; • a unique identification number – this might be a hospital number or a number assigned by the laboratory; • the test that has been requested; • the time and date of collection; • the initials of the person collecting the sample. Sample management is a part of process control, one of the essentials of a quality management system. The quality of the work a laboratory produces is only as good as the quality of the samples it uses for testing. The laboratory must be proactive in ensuring that the samples it