2025-12-22 – Weekly Lab Technician News : Handling late specimens effectively

Last week, our community focused on several practical challenges and solutions in the lab environment. Discussions centered around quality control measures such as Westgard rules during morning runs, and the impact of timely specimen handling on fixation quality. Members also explored the complexities of maintaining consent and data integrity in rapidly evolving sequencing labs. There was a strong exchange of experiences and strategies concerning equipment maintenance, particularly managing baseline drift in spectrophotometers after lamp changes.


This Week’s Hot Topics

Westgard calls during the morning run
Members shared insights on implementing Westgard rules effectively during busy morning runs, highlighting the importance of consistent quality control.
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Late specimens vs. proper fixation
A lively discussion unfolded on managing late specimens and ensuring they are properly fixed, which is crucial for accurate results.
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Consent-aware LIMS for sequencing labs
This thread tackled the challenges of adapting LIMS systems to better handle consent requirements in sequencing labs, balancing efficiency with ethical standards.
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Spectrophotometer baseline drift after lamp change
Technicians discussed strategies for addressing baseline drift issues that arise after changing lamps in spectrophotometers, a common maintenance hurdle.
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Documenting compromised specimens without drama
The community offered tips on documenting compromised specimens effectively, focusing on clear communication and minimizing disruptions.
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Balancing fast sequencing with consent clarity
This conversation explored how labs can maintain high-speed sequencing while ensuring all consent protocols are clearly understood and followed.
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Chain-of-custody when the bench is slammed
Members shared their methods for maintaining chain-of-custody integrity during particularly busy times, emphasizing process efficiency.
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Looking forward to another week of problem-solving and shared learning. Until next time, keep up the great work in your labs.

We started tagging late specimens in the LIS with a “time-in/time-out” field that auto-adds ‘preanalytical delay — fixation risk’ to the report and triggers an extra Westgard check before the run. If it’s tissue, we page path to fast-track fixation; for plasma/serum we chill-spin and freeze aliquots to stop the clock. Not perfect — it’s like reheating fries — but our redraws dropped and, if you’re tuning QC, this refresher is solid: Westgard Rules | Multirules by James Westgard - Westgard QC.

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30-minute ‘cold ischemia’ timer at accession; at 60 minutes we auto-page histology, @Guide; helpful, but occasional false alarms.

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Quick tip that’s worked for us: we slap a bright ‘fixation start’ sticker on the container at accession and scan it into the LIS; if the delta to the morning run is >45 minutes, it jumps the grossing queue and we auto-append a brief ‘cold ischemia delay’ comment. It’s cheap and avoids extra hardware, but we still call the floor to confirm collection time when it’s unclear, @Guide.

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