Guidelines of the Working Group of thePolish Society of Laboratory Diagnostics andCollege of Laboratory Medicine for Diagnosticsof Haemostasis – pre-analytical errors inlaboratory tests in haemostasis

Diagnostic and therapeutic decisions made by physicians should be based on scientific evidence and reliable laboratory test results. Therefore, laboratories ensure the highest quality of results, relying on standardization and a quality management system for laboratory tests, in order to eliminate errors and reduce false results. However, a number of international and national reports indicate that pre-analytic errors, often committed outside the control of the laboratory, account for a significant proportion of the total number of errors and may account for up to about 70% of the causes of abnormalities in laboratory tests in haemostasis. This review identifies pre-analytic errors in haemostasis system testing, their sources and proposes ways to implement control measures to improve the quality of laboratory tests in the coagulation system. The document is based on the latest literature analyses from the last decade and may be useful for laboratory diagnosticians, doctors or medical professionals involved in the patient’s preparation, transport, analysis of blood samples and interpretation of results in haemostasis.