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Comparison of pneumatic tube system with manual transport for routine chemistry, hematology, coagulation and blood gas tests

  • Alex Pupek , Beverly Matthewson , Erin Whitman , Rachel Fullarton and Yu Chen EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: April 22, 2017
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Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM)
From the journal Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) Volume 55 Issue 10

Abstract

Background:

The pneumatic tube system (PTS) is commonly used in modern clinical laboratories to provide quick specimen delivery. However, its impact on sample integrity and laboratory testing results are still debatable. In addition, each PTS installation and configuration is unique to its institution. We sought to validate our Swisslog PTS by comparing routine chemistry, hematology, coagulation and blood gas test results and sample integrity indices between duplicate samples transported either manually or by PTS.

Methods:

Duplicate samples were delivered to the core laboratory manually by human courier or via the Swisslog PTS. Head-to-head comparisons of 48 routine chemistry, hematology, coagulation and blood gas laboratory tests, and three sample integrity indices were conducted on 41 healthy volunteers and 61 adult patients.

Results:

The PTS showed no impact on sample hemolysis, lipemia, or icterus indices (all p<0.05). Although alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin and hemoglobin reached statistical significance (p=0.009, 0.027 and 0.012, respectively), all had very low average bias which ranged from 0.01% to 2%. Potassium, total hemoglobin and percent deoxyhemoglobin were statistically significant for the neonatal capillary tube study (p=0.011, 0.033 and 0.041, respectively) but no biases greater than ±4% were identified for these parameters. All observed differences of these 48 laboratory tests were not clinically significant.

Conclusions:

The modern PTS investigated in this study is acceptable for reliable sample delivery for routine chemistry, hematology, coagulation and blood gas (in syringe and capillary tube) laboratory tests.

Keywords: blood gas analysis; pneumatic tube system; sample integrity; sample transportation; validation study
Corresponding author: Yu Chen, MD, PhD, Chief of Department of Laboratory Medicine, Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital, Horizon Health Network, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada E3B 5N5; Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada, Phone: +(506) 452-5443, Fax: +(506) 452-5422
aAlex Pupek and Beverly Matthewson contributed equally to this work.

  1. Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: None declared.

  3. Employment or leadership: None declared.

  4. Honorarium: None declared.

  5. Competing interests: The funding organization(s) played no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the report for publication.

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Received: 2016-12-19
Accepted: 2017-3-6
Published Online: 2017-4-22
Published in Print: 2017-8-28

©2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/cclm-2016-1157
Keywords for this article
blood gas analysis; pneumatic tube system; sample integrity; sample transportation; validation study

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  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorials
  3. Reporting LDL-cholesterol levels in the era of intensive lipid management: a clarion call
  4. The challenges of genetic risk scores for the prediction of coronary heart disease
  5. Reviews
  6. Advanced lipoprotein testing for cardiovascular diseases risk assessment: a review of the novel approaches in lipoprotein profiling
  7. A review of the challenge in measuring and standardizing BCR-ABL1
  8. Mini Review
  9. Challenges in the analysis of epigenetic biomarkers in clinical samples
  10. Opinion Paper
  11. Defining a roadmap for harmonizing quality indicators in Laboratory Medicine: a consensus statement on behalf of the IFCC Working Group “Laboratory Error and Patient Safety” and EFLM Task and Finish Group “Performance specifications for the extra-analytical phases”
  12. Genetics and Molecular Diagnostics
  13. Assessment of EGFR mutation status using cell-free DNA from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid
  14. General Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
  15. A survey of patients’ views from eight European countries of interpretive support from Specialists in Laboratory Medicine
  16. Verification of examination procedures in clinical laboratory for imprecision, trueness and diagnostic accuracy according to ISO 15189:2012: a pragmatic approach
  17. Expressing analytical performance from multi-sample evaluation in laboratory EQA
  18. A candidate reference method for serum potassium measurement by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
  19. Practical motives are prominent in test-ordering in the Emergency Department
  20. Technical and clinical validation of the Greiner FC-Mix glycaemia tube
  21. Comparison of pneumatic tube system with manual transport for routine chemistry, hematology, coagulation and blood gas tests
  22. Accuracy of cerebrospinal fluid Aβ1-42 measurements: evaluation of pre-analytical factors using a novel Elecsys immunosassay
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