Specimen Labeling

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Patient Safety Authority
333 Market Street
Lobby Level
Harrisburg, PA 17120

Phone: 717-346-0469
Fax: 717-346-1090

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Blood Specimen Labeling

Inaccurately identified specimens can lead to delayed or wrong diagnoses, missed or incorrect treatments, blood transfusion errors, and additional laboratory testing. The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority worked with the hospitals to decrease blood specimen labeling error rates (e.g., using the investigation tool below). At the end of the multihospital collaborative, there was a 37% aggregate statistically significant decrease in specimen labeling errors.

The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority sponsored a multihospital collaborative to measure blood specimen labeling error rates, document hospital-specific interventions to reduce the labeling error rate, and measure the outcome of the interventions. The collaborative resulted in a statistically significant decrease in specimen labeling errors.

Blood Specimen Labeling Collaborative: Path to Results

Patient Safety Liaison Megan Shetterly, RN, MS, shares participants’ experiences (e.g., changing facility culture) from the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority’s collaborative to improve blood specimen labeling.

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