Hemolysis index: quality indicator or criterion for sample rejection?

errors; hemolysis; patient safety;technology.Laboratory diagnostics has undergone radical chang-es over the past decades, led scientific discoveries,and supported by remarkable technological advancesinvolving computer science, informatics, miniaturiza-tion, automation and consolidation of laboratoryequipment (1). Other significant contributions for thisparadigm shift in the way we have traditionally usedlaboratory resources have arisen from the reorgani-zation of healthcare systems worldwide. The increas-ing demand for testing has been counterbalanced bya progressive decrease in funding for public and pri-vate laboratories due to an economic crisis i.e., pre-dicted to peak in the next 2 years. The broad scaleeffects of these changes have generated an apparentparadox of ‘‘