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Editor-in-chief
Maria Stella Graziani

Deputy Director
Martina Zaninotto

Associate Editors
Ferruccio Ceriotti
Davide Giavarina
Bruna Lo Sasso
Giampaolo Merlini
Martina Montagnana
Andrea Mosca
Paola Pezzati
Rossella Tomaiuolo
Matteo Vidali

EIC Assistant
Francesco Busardò

International Advisory Board Khosrow Adeli Canada
Sergio Bernardini Italy
Marcello Ciaccio Italy
Eleftherios Diamandis Canada
Philippe Gillery France
Kjell Grankvist Sweden
Hans Jacobs The Netherlands
Eric Kilpatrick UK
Magdalena Krintus Poland
Giuseppe Lippi Italy
Mario Plebani Italy
Sverre Sandberg Norway
Ana-Maria Simundic Croatia
Tommaso Trenti Italy
Cas Weykamp The Netherlands
Maria Willrich USA
Paul Yip Canada


Publisher
Biomedia srl
Via L. Temolo 4, 20126 Milano

Responsible Editor
Giuseppe Agosta

Editorial Secretary
Chiara Riva
Biomedia srl
Via L. Temolo 4, 20126 Milano
Tel. 0245498282
email: biochimica.clinica@sibioc.it

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ISSN print: 0393 – 0564
ISSN digital: 0392- 7091



BC: Articoli scritti da B. Milanesi

Verifica locale dei sistemi di prelievo nei laboratori clinici: adattamento delle linee guida EFLM
Blood collection systems in clinical laboratories: local adaptation of the EFLM guidelines
<p>The importance of the process of purchasing or changing blood collection devices is often overlooked. This is likely attributable to many factors such as the limited knowledge that policymakers, healthcare administrators and also laboratory managers have on the significance of preanalytical quality, but also to the lack of validated criteria for analyzing the quality of blood collection devices. Since a gap remains to be filled between companies&rsquo; and laboratory&rsquo;s validation, the EFLM Working Group on Preanalytical Phase (WG-PRE) has published a comprehensive document, which contains essential prerequisites and technical issues (e.g., physical imperfections, defects of functioning, safety deficiencies) to support local clinical laboratories for the development of tenders for blood tubes and for the validation of new materials ahead of local routine use. This consensus document is a national adaptation of these guidelines.</p>
Biochimica Clinica ; 40(4) 347-352
Documenti SIBioC - SIBioC Documents
 
A multicentre observational study evaluating the effectiveness of a phlebotomy check-list in reducing preanalytical errors
<p>Several preanalytical errors are attributable to inappropriate or poorly standardized activities during the venous blood&nbsp;collection. We designed a multicenter observational study to establish whether the implementation of a phlebotomy&nbsp;check-list in 7 phlebotomy centers and 4 emergency departments is effective in reducing the rate of preanalytical&nbsp;errors related to the blood drawing. The investigation was divided in two 3-month periods during which 5 common&nbsp;preanalytical errors were systematically recorded. After the introduction of the phlebotomy check-list, the rate of&nbsp;preanalytical errors was significantly decreased in phlebotomy centers (0.04% vs. 0.05%, P=0.001), but remained&nbsp;unchanged in emergency departments (0.83% vs. 0.82%, P=0.84). A significant decrease was achieved for sample&nbsp;identification errors and clotted specimens in phlebotomy centers and emergency departments, whereas a significant<br />reduction in hemolysis was noticed only in phlebotomy centers. The rate of inappropriate filling and wrong containers&nbsp;remained unchanged. The results obtained in this study show that the introduction of a phlebotomy check-list may&nbsp;help in reducing preanalytical errors related to misidentification and undue clotting.</p>
Biochimica Clinica ; 39(6) 559-562
Contributi scientifici - Scientific Papers
 
Proposta di una “checklist” per il prelievo di sangue venoso
Proposal of a checklist for venous blood collection
<p>The collection of venous blood is central in clinical laboratory&nbsp;activity. Although there is widespread perception that this practice is simple and free of complications and side effects,&nbsp;it is undeniable that the vast majority of laboratory errors arises from ignorance, incompetence or negligence during&nbsp;venipuncture. It has hence become advisable to prepare a document in simplified form of checklist, consisting of a&nbsp;concise but comprehensive list of activities to be completed or verified in order to prevent errors during venous blood&nbsp;collection. In the intention of authors, this synthetic checklist is a modular tool, adaptable to different local contexts,&nbsp;it can be easily and gradually implemented, it is supported by scientific evidence and consensus of experts and&nbsp;created with the support of different healthcare professionals and it is adherent to the best practices and requires&nbsp;minimal resources for implementation. It is reasonable to assume that this checklist may be able to withstand system&nbsp;and individual changes, strengthening the standards for safety of both operators and patients, limiting potential failure&nbsp;patterns. We hope that the checklist may be implemented in all healthcare facilities where routine venous blood&nbsp;collection is performed, after adaptation to suit characteristics of local organization.</p>
Biochimica Clinica ; 37(4) 312-317
Documenti SIBioC - SIBioC Documents
 
Raccomandazioni di consenso SIBioC-SIMeL per la rilevazione e gestione dei campioni emolisati e utilizzo dell'indice di emolisi
SIBioC-SIMeL consensus recommendations for the identification and management of hemolysed specimens and the implementation of hemolysis index
<p><strong>SIBioC-SIMeL consensus recommendations for the identification and management of hemolysed specimens</strong><br /><strong>and the implementation of hemolysis index.</strong> The presence of hemolysis in a biological blood sample is mainly<br />caused by hemolytic anemia or hemolysis in vitro. The latter is caused by inappropriate collection and processing of biological samples, which may affect the reliability of test results. Hemolysis is assessed by free hemoglobin quantification, whose limit is 0.02 g/L in plasma and 0.05 g/L in serum, and visually observed when the concentration of free hemoglobin exceeds 0.30 g/L. Since hemolysis is the most frequent cause of unsuitable biological samples in clinical laboratories, with a prevalence approaching 3% of all received samples, these recommendations have been drafted specifically to assist laboratory professionals in detection and management of hemolysed specimens. In summary, the recommended approach is based on: (i) systematic detection and quantification of hemolysis, by visual inspection and subsequent quantification of the hemolysis index on all samples with visually detectable hemolysis; (ii) immediate notification to the referring department of the presence of hemolysis in the sample, as locally determined; (iii) suppression of all results affected by the presence and/or degree of hemolysis; and (iv) timely request of a second sample, on which the previously deleted tests can be performed.</p>
Biochimica Clinica ; 35(6) 481-490
DOCUMENTI SIBioC - DOCUMENTI SIBioC