COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCE AND MEDICIENE
CLINICAL LABORATORY METHODS
BY:
Tamirat. E (MSc in CLS specialty in Hematology and Transfusion medicine)
Email :[email protected]
Phone: +251919675172 11/28/24
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction to Clinical laboratory
Methods
Nov, 2024
Sodo, Ethiopia
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OUT LINE
Introduction to Clinical Laboratory Method
The role of Clinical Laboratory Method
Selection of Laboratory Tests
Quality Assurance
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Introduction
Clinical Laboratory Science – Is a profession concerned with
providing information based on :
the performance of analytical tests on human body substances
to:
Detect presence or absence of certain pathogen.
To check impairment of human body
To promote and monitor good health.
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Basically, laboratory & diagnostic tests are tools by
themselves, they are not Therapeutic.
In conjunction with a pertinent history & physical
examination(P/E), these tests can :
Confirm a diagnosis or
Provide valuable information about a patient status &
response to therapy.
In addition to these, lab findings are essential for
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General Overview
Laboratory is a place that is equipped with different instruments,
equipments & chemicals (reagents) etc., for performing
experimental works, research activities & investigative
procedures.
Medical laboratory is one part of the laboratory that is equipped
with various biomedical instruments, equipments, materials &
reagents (chemicals) for performing d/t laboratory investigative
activities by using biological specimens (whole blood, serum,
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Role of medical laboratory services
The Role of Clinical Lab in the Health Care System
1.Patient diagnosis, screening and treatment follow up.
2.Public health aspects such as epidemic control, surveillance &
delivery of health information.
Out Comes
1. Improvement in the quality of health care system.
2. Reduce health care costs.
3. Reduce disease transmission.
4. Greater patient satisfaction.
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5. Greater motivation of the health care workers. 11/28/24
The medical laboratory services play a pivotal role in the
promotion, curative and preventive aspects of a nation’s health
delivery system.
The service gives a scientific foundation by providing accurate
information to those with responsibility for:
Treating patients & monitoring their response to Rx,
Monitoring the development and spread of infectious pathogens.
Deciding effective control measures against major prevalent disease.
Deciding health priorities and allocating resources
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Without reliable clinical laboratory services:
1. The source of a disease may not be identified correctly.
2. Patients are less likely to receive the best possible care.
3. Resistance to essential drugs may develop & continue to
spread.
4. Epidemic diseases may not be identified on time &with
confidence.
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Selection of Laboratory Tests is based on:-
The value of the information they provide.
Cost of the test.
Availability of the necessary laboratory materials.
Availability of well trained & experienced lab staff.
laboratory tests are often performed for the purpose of:
-diagnosing disease and
-monitoring treatment
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A. Medical Laboratory request form
Many d/t types of lab requests are received daily in a
medical lab.
The format of lab request may vary from one health
institution to the other.
An efficient lab will be able to monitor the lab request & its
requisition forms from the time the specimens arrive until
the time that results are released.
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Lab request form should provide the following information:-
The patients identification (full name, age, sex,
address);
Inpatient or out patient identification number;
Specific test(s) required and date requested;
Type of specimen provided;
Name of medical officer requesting the test and to
whom the report should be sent;
Any other information relevant to the test requested
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Keeping of laboratory records
The lab must keep a record of all results & it should contain:
Patient’s identification (name, age, sex, address),
Type of the specimen (s),
Type of test(s) done,
Date and result(s) of the test (s).
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Delivery of laboratory results
Lab staff should provide as much relevant information as
possible to assist those requesting tests.
Standardization in the presentation of reports and use of units
is important because it helps in the interpretation and
comparison of results.
Reports should be clearly and neatly written, particularly
figures
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To ensure the validity & accuracy of test results, the following pts.
should be taken into consideration.
1.Experienced member of lab professional must check all lab
results before dispatching them to respective dep't or units.
2.Any unexpected result should be investigated & repeated if
necessary.
3.If possible, reference values (normal ranges) should be included
in reports
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QUALITY ASSURANCE(QA)
All lab personnel must be aware of how the quality of their
work affects the diagnosis & treatment of patients.
Lab tests should be true +ve & true -ve. However, false
+ve & -ve can be obtained.
Therefore, we should minimize conditions associated with
false +ve & false -ve results using Good QA Program.
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QA is the overall program that ensures the final results
reported by the lab are correct as much as possible.
It is not a single activity nor the responsibility of a single
individual but must be practiced by every one & every time
within the laboratory.
Quality assurance program has 3 steps
1. Pre Analytical Step
2. Analytical Step.
3. Post Analytical Step
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1. Pre Analytical Step
Some of the activities are such as:
patient identification,
preparation of patients,
collection and labeling of specimen,
preparation of SOPs & selection of appropriate method for the
particular test.
During method selection, consider the following factors like
its cost & availability,
the precision, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity,
positive predictive value,
negative predictive value of the procedural method should be
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2. Analytical Step (Quality Control)
QA refers to those measures that must be included during
performing the test.
Its primary concern is control of errors in the performance
and verification of test results.
Analytical methods are usually monitored by analyzing control
materials.
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3. Post Analytical Step
refers to correct transcription,
reporting, recording & storage of specimens, if necessary; for
further investigations.
Thus, QA can be summarized as:
right result
at the right time,
on the right specimen,
from the right patient,
with interpretation based on correct reference data.
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