Dear Helen,
In our laboratory we have a comment that goes something like this " High
potassium may be falsely elevated in haemolysed specimen, if clinically
indicated repeat the test at no extra charge" and we do include a value for
the potassium (up to 8 mmol/L). This is to cover ourselve from GP sueing us
for not letting them know how high the potassium really was. Take for
example a renal patient with a slightly haemolysed specimen and a potassium
level of 6.5mmol/l wouldn't you want to let the doctor know what the value
is and let him decide whether it is clinically significant?
Another scenario is again a slightly heamolysed specimen with a potassium
of 5.6mmol/L (our NR is 3.4-5.5 mmol/L)and everything else is normal, if
you do not include the value in there wouldn't you raise more question for
the GP. With the comment above plus the value added I think we can protect
from any wrong doing that may arise as well as providing a better service
to our doctors.
Kelvin.
Medical Scientist
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