In conjunction with laboratory policies and procedures, effective communication should be embedded in the laboratory's quality management system (QMS).
An important part of the QMS is reporting and reviewing nonconforming events. This gauges the laboratory's room for improvement in eliminating or mitigating the risk of events reoccuring.
Let's look at one of the previous case scenarios.
Case Scenario 3
A provider calls the Laboratory Support area to find out what the correct tube type is for a sendout test. Unfortunately, the Laboratory Support tech gave the wrong information to the provider. It wasn't realized until the specimen was received in the laboratory that the sendout test needed a different tube type. The test had to be canceled, the provider had to be notified, and the patient had to receive an additional blood draw.
With a proper QMS, the provider would be able to communicate this event to the manager of the Laboratory Support area. The manager would review this event from a systems perspective to see why the incorrect information was communicated to the provider.
Was the employee trained? If so, was the training adequate? Is the information regarding sendout tube types readily available to the employee? Can this information be provided somewhere so the provider doesn't need to call the lab?Having a robust QMS is the best way to eliminate or mitigate risks related to miscommunication.
