Education
APaN is committed to providing quality education for it’s members in a number of formats, including local member meetings, state and national conferences, access to latest research and online learning opportunities.
For details of meetings and conferences go to: “what’s on?”
Online learning series.
APaN will provide access to a range of online learning opportunities for our members.
The importance of correct order of draw in phlebotomy collection.
The order of draw is critical when collecting multiple specimens for clinical laboratory testing during a single venipuncture using the evacuated tube method. The most important factor in deciding the order of draw is the carryover of the additives contained in the former tube into the subsequent tube.1,2 An additive-containing blood specimen that adheres to a rubber sleeve of the phlebotomy needle can contaminate the blood specimen in the subsequent tube, thus causing erroneous results. This is particularly important when performing coagulation tests, because most of the tubes contain anticoagulants or clot activators which can easily affect the coagulation test results with a minimal amount of carryover.
http://ajcp.ascpjournals.org/content/137/6/900.full
Labelling Errors
This article by Morris et al., (2010) outlines the steps a major US teaching hospital took to reduce labelling errors in the collection process.
The findings show and support previous research that bar coding bedside can significantly reduce this preventable human error.
http://171.67.112.51/content/133/6/870.full
The Dark Side of Pathology – Collection Errors Research
Thanks for the feedback on this presentation at the conference. As promised I have included it here so that you can access it and use it as you see fit. The associated article is also attached. Enjoy!
APaN Conference 2013 presentation
Phlebotomy- the the dark side of quality
What is blood?
Video courtesy of America’s Blood Centres. www. Americablood.org
The first in our series of educational videos is one about the thing that keeps all of us in a job – Blood!
Many of us handle it each day- but do you really know what that red stuff is made up of and how it works?
This short video is short, basic and great to share with your team- especially the newer members as part of new staff training.
Haemolysis
This excerpt video courtesy of Centre for Phlebotomy Education. The full video can be purchased online here
The second in our series of educational videos is one about the thing that keeps all of us on our toes in terms of our technique when collecting blood.
Haemolysed samples lead to erroneous results and perhaps even recollection of the sample.
This short video is short, basic and great to share with your team- especially the newer members as part of new staff training. A useful addition to the training on haemolysis would also be the “Factors affecting hemolysis” flowchart available form the Specimencare.com site.