Clinical Pathology Sample Submission Hints
Inadequate Blood Film
Thick blood film.
Adequate blood film
Even and thin distribution of cells. Blood film must be prepared as soon as possible in order to minimize artifactual cellular changes. Smears should be rapidly dried with a blow drier to eliminate artifacts of air-drying red blood cells.
Hemolysis
These are different degrees of serum hemolysis. To prevent hemolysis, it is ideal to submit only chilled serum instead of whole blood for testing. Specimens must be submitted and processed as soon as possible.
Insufficient specimen for testing
Almost every test in our laboratory requires 0.5 to 1 ml. of serum per test requested.
Unlabeled Specimen
As in any other test, all tubes, containers, bags, slides, and swabs submitted must adequately labeled. Specimen type, name of the patient and information pertinent to the practitioner should be included on the label.
