PATHOLOGY REGIONAL HOSPITAL MULLINGAR Longford Road, Mullingar, Co Westmeath Tel: 044 9394330 Laboratory User Manual 19th Edition, September 2020 Doc. No: Doc Owner: Frances Walsh Dept & Location: Pathology, RH Mullingar MANUAL-M/L/2 Vers. No: 19 Active Date: Doc Title: Laboratory User Manual No. Of 22/09/2020 Pg: 1 of 163 PATHOLOGY REGIONAL HOSPITAL MULLINGAR Longford Road, Mullingar, Co Westmeath Tel: 044 9394330 Table of Contents 1 Changes Since Last Revision ................................................................................................................. 5 2 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 7 2.1 Mission Statement ....................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 Accreditation Status ..................................................................................................................... 8 2.3 Patient Consent ............................................................................................................................ 8 2.4 Data Protection ............................................................................................................................ 8 2.5 Privacy Notice............................................................................................................................... 8 3 Quality Policy ....................................................................................................................................... 9 4 Hours of Operation & Location of Laboratory Services ........................................................................10 4.1 Hours of Operation ......................................................................................................................10 4.2 Postal Address .............................................................................................................................10 4.3 On-call Contact Details ................................................................................................................11 5 Pathology Staff & Department Contact Details ....................................................................................11 5.1 Staffing ........................................................................................................................................11 5.2 Contact Details ............................................................................................................................11 6 Laboratory Request Forms, Specimen Collection & Result Reporting Times .........................................13 6.1 Pathology Policy on Request Form Completion & Specimen Labelling ..........................................13 6.2 Request Forms ............................................................................................................................13 6.3 Completion of the Request Form .................................................................................................26 6.4 Clinical Details .............................................................................................................................26 6.5 Specimen Types ...........................................................................................................................27 6.6 Specimen Collection ....................................................................................................................30 6.7 Specimen Contamination.............................................................................................................30 6.8 Labelling the Specimen Container ................................................................................................30 6.9 Quality of Blood Specimens, Specimen Bottles or Request Forms (Excluding Blood Transfusion) .31 6.10 Additional Testing Requests.........................................................................................................32 6.11 Patient Preparation for Non-Blood Specimens .............................................................................32 6.12 Instruction for Completion of 24 Hour Urine Collection ...............................................................32 7 Health and Safety ................................................................................................................................33 8 Delivery, Packing & Transport Requirements for all Diagnostic Specimens ..........................................33 8.1 Specimen Delivery within the Hospital .........................................................................................33 8.2 Packing of Diagnostic (Non-infectious) Specimens for Delivery to the Laboratory from Outside the Hospital ..................................................................................................................................................33 8.3 Packing of Diagnostic (Infectious) Specimens for Delivery to the Laboratory from Outside the Hospital ..................................................................................................................................................34 8.4 Specimen Delivery from Outside the Hospital ..............................................................................34 Doc. No: Doc Owner: Frances Walsh Dept & Location: Pathology, RH Mullingar MANUAL-M/L/2 Vers. No: 19 Active Date: Doc Title: Laboratory User Manual No. Of 22/09/2020 Pg: 2 of 163 PATHOLOGY REGIONAL HOSPITAL MULLINGAR Longford Road, Mullingar, Co Westmeath Tel: 044 9394330 9 External Quality Control Assessment Programme ................................................................................34 10 Reporting of Results ........................................................................................................................34 10.1 Frequency of Testing ...................................................................................................................34 10.2 Result Reporting ..........................................................................................................................35 11 Laboratory Information Systems .....................................................................................................36 11.1 Ward Enquiry ..............................................................................................................................36 11.2 BloodTrack Enquiry......................................................................................................................42 12 Services Available ............................................................................................................................43 12.1 Pathology Services .......................................................................................................................43 12.2 Hospital & Regional Meetings ......................................................................................................44 12.3 Laboratory Supplies .....................................................................................................................44 12.4 Storage of Examined Specimens ..................................................................................................44 13 Laboratory On-call Protocol .............................................................................................................45 13.1 Tests Available On-call .................................................................................................................45 14 Clinical Chemistry ............................................................................................................................47 14.1 Contact Details for Key Members of Staff ....................................................................................47 14.2 Test Profiles .................................................................................................................................47 14.3 Unexpected Results .....................................................................................................................48 14.4 Turnaround Times .......................................................................................................................48 14.5 Guidelines for Clinical Chemistry Testing .....................................................................................48 15 Immunology ....................................................................................................................................59 15.1 Contact Details for Key Members of Staff ....................................................................................59 15.2 Allergy Testing .............................................................................................................................59 15.3 Guidelines for Testing for TPO Antibodies ....................................................................................63 15.4 Notes for Immunology Tests ........................................................................................................63 15.5 Turnaround Times for Immunology Testing .................................................................................64 16 Haematology ...................................................................................................................................65 16.1 Contact Details for Key Members of Staff ....................................................................................65