JISCMail - ACB-CLIN-CHEM-GEN Archives

Let’s go to evidence-based medicine!

Manufacturers will always sit on the fence what does “where possible” mean!!

Don’t know if Grampian insist on upright transport. I never did when we flew samples halfway around the world for clinical trials and results were not affected (unless inadequately centrifuged). Currently, all our samples are received in all manner of positions

From: Clinical biochemistry discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Miller Adrian (NORTH CUMBRIA UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS TRUST)
Sent: 08 July 2014 16:30
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Centrifugation in Primary Care

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Dear Collective,

This is a question for clinical laboratories that serve primary care practices in which serum gel tubes are centrifuged in the surgery prior to transport to the lab; do you insist that centrifuged tubes are transported in an upright position?

I was recently made aware of a training course for Practice Nurses where the instructor implied that centrifugation in primary care was without merit due to the fact that "...by the time they had jiggled up and down on a journey to the lab, potassiums are unreliable anyway". This is contrary to the evidence that centrifugation in primary care IS beneficial and, as long as the tubes are maintained within a reasonable temperature range, the integrity of the gel is not compromised. BD (our tube supplier) suggest "where possible, tubes should be transported in an upright position" (despite a lack of data to back up this suggestion) but I'd be interested to see how many labs actually deem this possible.

Regards,

Adrian

___________________________________________

Dr Adrian G Miller PhD FRCPath

Consultant Biochemist

North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust

Newtown Road

Carlisle

Cumbria

www.labtestsonline.org.uk/

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