Neonatal bilirubin testing practices - Reports from 312 laboratories enrolled in the College of American Pathologists Excel Proficiency Testing Program
Jc. Dale et Hj. Hamrick, Neonatal bilirubin testing practices - Reports from 312 laboratories enrolled in the College of American Pathologists Excel Proficiency Testing Program, ARCH PATH L, 124(10), 2000, pp. 1425-1428
Citations number
18
Categorie Soggetti
Research/Laboratory Medicine & Medical Tecnology","Medical Research Diagnosis & Treatment
Objective.-To characterize laboratory practices for neonatal bilirubin test
ing and to identify opportunities for improvement.
Design.-A voluntary self-assessment questionnaire was used to assess the la
boratory practices of 312 laboratories subscribing to the College of Americ
an Pathologists (CAP) Excel Chemistry Proficiency Testing Program.
Results.-A range of preanalytic and analytic practices were reported. The m
ost notable problems identified were the use of overly long capillary punct
ure devices (17.8%), failure to protect the specimen from light prior to an
alysis (3.4%), failure to use a control containing >171 mu mol/L bilirubin
(26.1%), use of single-level control (4.2%), and lack of established linear
ity limits (7.0%).
Conclusion.-Opportunities exist to improve specimen collection, processing,
and analysis for some physician-office and small-hospital laboratories.