In this issue, I noticed a prominent theme of blood testing/specimen collection in the articles — our State of the Industry covers diabetes and sexually transmitted infection testing, the CE is on point-of-care testing, the Product Focus is on specimen collection, and we have articles on mass spectrometry, critical lab values, and phlebotomy safety. As you well know, blood work is one of the most commonly performed laboratory tests. And quite a lot goes into collecting it, testing it, and reporting it. And often — more than seven billion lab tests are performed in the United States each year, according to the American Clinical Laboratory Association.
For some patients, a blood test can save their life or greatly affect their quality of life. The blood test detects diabetes, thyroid function, kidney diseases, heart diseases, bone diseases, liver diseases, hemophilia, some cancers, HIV, Lyme disease, among others. Every day new research is published on how important the blood specimen is when used to detect diseases earlier — such as cancers and Alzheimer’s. Because the blood test is so important in so many respects, I wanted to recognize the individuals who perform this important work in the preanalytical phases of testing.
A lot goes into sample collection: Hand washing procedures, knowledge on how to protect against blood exposure, donning gloves and properly removing gloves, placing the tourniquet, properly cleansing the testing area on the patient, understanding the anatomy of veins and proper venipuncture, patient identification, proper specimen labeling, following guidelines for correct order of draw, following recommendations for proper draw volume, proper transport
of specimens, and much more.
All this work in the pre-analytical phase is necessary for accurate diagnostic testing. Numerous articles have been published on the pre-analytical phase in this publication. A couple examples are provided below.
The annual Clinical Laboratory Reference (CLR) accompanies this August issue of MLO. In CLR, our landmark article: “When to panic over an abnormal value” by George D. Lundberg, MD, ScD is featured. This article was published in the March/April 1972 issue of MLO, and it is still referenced by researchers today when writing about critical limits. I encourage you to read this important, historical article. I was able to connect with Dr. Lundberg (Who recently celebrated his 90th birthday!) for a new article. His article, “Critical lab values: A 50-year perspective honoring the MLO anniversary of publishing the laboratory panic values paper” is featured on page 14. I was very excited to be able to work with one of the magazine’s original
authors this year as we celebrate our 55th anniversary.
It is that time of year at MLO that we start planning our editorial topics for the next year. I would love to hear from you if you have topics that you want to read more about in this publication. This past year, we also made modifications to our Continuing Education platform (https://www.mlo-online.com/ce). If you have any feedback on the usability of the site, please share that with me. In addition, I am very interested in knowing what CE topics would be beneficial to your continuing education efforts.
I welcome your comments and questions — please send them to me at [email protected].
REFERENCES
1. Kaushik N. Pre-analytical errors: their impact and how to minimize them. Medical Laboratory Observer. Published May 18, 2014. Accessed July 11, 2024. https://www.mlo-online.com/home/article/13006606/pre-analytical-errors-their-impact-and-how-to-minimize-them.
2. Skala K. Best practices in preanalytical sample quality: Managing and preventing in vitro
hemolysis in the emergency department. Medical Laboratory Observer. Published June 24, 2024. Accessed July 11, 2024. https://www.mlo-online.com/diagnostics/hematology/article/55056397/best-practices-in-preanalytical-sample-quality-managing-and-preventing-in-vitro-hemolysis-in-the-emergency-department.
