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delivery in the remarks column of the specimen register and on the report form,
particularly for negative/contaminated results. The packaging material should be
autoclaved before discarding.
4. REGISTRATION OF SAMPLES
4.1 Receipt of incoming specimens
For safety and work-flow reasons, specimens should be received in the office
area of the laboratory and delivery boxes should be opened using all the
applicable biosafety procedures inside the lab.
To minimize risk of infection, the following procedures should be applied:
1. The specimen package received should be opened only in a biosafety
cabinet which may be located in a small area within the reception or in the
culture room, as they could potentially be MDR or XDR Tuberculosis. (DO
NOT OPEN ON AN OPEN BENCH AT THE LAB RECEPTION)
2. Before opening the packet, inspect the delivery box for signs of leakage; if
there is gross leakage evident, discard the box by autoclaving or burning;
do not try to open and retrieve any specimen.
3. If on gross inspection there is no leakage, disinfect the outside of the
delivery box using cotton wool or paper towels saturated with a suitable
disinfectant (5% phenol)
4. Open carefully and check for cracked or broken specimen containers or
leakage within the packaged container. If there is minimal leakage without
any gross loss of specimen, they may be processed with an asterix that
leakage was noted on receipt. (This will assist in identifying reasons for
contamination used in lab performance indicators). In case of gross
leakage, with only very little sample being available, accept the sample
and process after carefully making a note of the same as
extrapulmonary specimens are precious and repeat collection may not be
possible.
5. Check labelling of specimens with individual identification numbers and
correspondence with numbers on the accompanying list or Clinical
information forms (CIF) that are accompanying the specimens.
6. Disinfect the inside of the delivery box, wash hands after handling
specimen containers
7. Autoclave the packaging material before discarding.
8. Assign unique lab serial number to each patient.
9. Evaluate the quality of specimens and make a note as to volume (in case
of fluids), leakage, blood mixed etc. Always register the incoming
specimen in the laboratory register; each specimen receives a serial
number that should be used to label every test for the specimen. Other
data that should be reported on the laboratory register are: the date of the
receipt of the specimen, patients name, age, sex and address, the name
of the referring health centre, the reason for DST. The signature (with the
name in capitals) of the person requesting the examination should always
be present.
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