Abstract:
Background: Proficient laboratory service is the cornerstone of modern healthcare systems and
has an impact on over 70% of medical decisions on admission, discharge, and medications.
In recent years, there is an increasing awareness of the importance of errors in laboratory
practice and their possible negative impact on patient outcomes. Aim: We retrospectively
analyzed data spanning a period of 3 years on analytical errors observed in our laboratory.
The data covered errors over the whole testing cycle including pre‑, intra‑, and post‑analytical
phases and discussed strategies pertinent to our settings to minimize their occurrence.
Materials and Methods: We described the occurrence of pre‑analytical, analytical and
post‑analytical errors observed at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital clinical biochemistry
laboratory during a 3‑year period from January, 2010 to December, 2012. Data were analyzed
with Graph Pad Prism 5(GraphPad Software Inc. CA USA). Results: A total of 589,510 tests
was performed on 188,503 outpatients and hospitalized patients. The overall error rate for
the 3 years was 4.7% (27,520/58,950). Pre‑analytical, analytical and post‑analytical errors
contributed 3.7% (2210/58,950), 0.1% (108/58,950), and 0.9% (512/58,950), respectively.
The number of tests reduced significantly over the 3-year period, but this did not correspond
with a reduction in the overall error rate (P = 0.90) along with the years. Conclusion:
Analytical errors are embedded within our total process setup especially pre‑analytical and
post‑analytical phases. Strategic measures including quality assessment programs for staff
involved in pre‑analytical processes should be intensified.
