Main failures of biosamples’ shipments
Sometimes it turns impossible to investigate samples at the place of drawing thus to get true results it is crucial to observe biosamples’ shipments rules.
Collected samples are shipped in sealed containers with a biohazard mark and ‘biosample’ sign. To observe samples’ purity, an adsorbent moistened with a disinfectant is placed on the bottom of the container.
Shipment is to be performed within 24-hours since the time of collection. If frozen or heated, samples may be spoiled; thus thermal containers and cooling agents are utilized. Requisition forms are shipped separately.
Main discrepancies’ types
Shipment requirements may differ depending on the biosample type (blood, saliva, fecal masses, etc) and study purpose. In some cases samples are to be delivered within 1-2 hours after collection while other cases stipulate temperature regimen observation as the most important. Nevertheless, there are some common requirements that may spoil the samples if not observed.
The most common causes of violated results are mistakes when completing requisition forms:
- Illegible inscriptions lead the list. Handwritten digital codes and patients’ names are often difficult to identify. At best, deciphering illegible handwriting will take some time. At worst case, the material will have to be re-collected;
- Inconsistency of information. In studies with many patients, sites’ laboratory assistants may mistake in patient’s name spelling while preparing the samples for shipment and requisition form completion. As a result, the data on the form will not coincide with these on tubes. That is why in laboratories much attention is paid to the preanalytical stage. Biomaterial with mismatched data is rejected automatically; all the attempts to estimate the correct data may lead to epidemiologic investigation.
Violations on shipment stage:
- Late biosamples’ delivery
- Temperature regimen violation. In some studies, the regimen is claimed to be >37°C, while in other trials estimate 8°C as maximum.
- Violation of tubes’ vertical position (shaking) due to poor fixation of the container
On top of that, there some time happen cases when tubes are delivered by unauthorized personnel, that is strictly prohibited. Biosamples are only to be handled by trained couriers and shipped on special transport with all the safety measures observed