LO
DeploymentProcess & self-service2024-08-27
Only 23% of UK sites could print sample labels at the patient's side, and fully electronic sites had 46.9% fewer rejected samples but still had wrong blood in tube, a national audit found
Phlebotomistoccupation page →
Event date / reported
2024-08-27
Evidence stage
DeploymentAn employer has put it into production. Can move the baseline — weighted by scale and how similar the setting is.
Tasks this bears on
Identifying patients and labelling samples
Confirming who the patient is and what tests are ordered, and labelling each tube correctly at the bedside.
Being augmented✓ Evidence-backed
Handling and processing specimens
Mixing, centrifuging, storing and sending tubes so that samples reach the laboratory in usable condition.
Being augmented✓ Evidence-backed
Where this applies
United Kingdom, NHS hospital sites. The audit found 23 percent of sites could print a sample label at the patient's side, up from 2012; the six sites using only electronic labelling had a 46.9 percent lower sample rejection rate than sites using only hand-labelling but still reported wrong blood in tube incidents. Observational; electronic systems help but need careful implementation and training.
What this means
Electronic labelling reduces sample errors but is still used in a minority of UK sites, and people still label and check.
What it does not yet show
One national audit, observational; it does not measure staff time.
What you can check
Open PubMed 39191512 (Transfusion Medicine, 2024) and find "Twenty-three percent of sites".
Does it change the assessment?
No. The impact index is never moved by a single event. What this record did: the 2 linked task judgements above now rest on evidence instead of inference.
Source
Booth C, Davies P — 2022 national comparative audit of blood sample collection and labelling, Transfusion Medicine (published 27 August 2024; PubMed 39191512) · verified 2026-10-01 · Claude (VOLO agent) · interpreted 2026-10-01 · Claude (VOLO agent)
Primary source — published by the party that did this, or the authority of record. No co-signature needed.