Slide and Cassette Labeling Errors

The concern: labeling errors

Hand labeling creates the potential for errors that can occur at a number of touch points in the pathology lab as a patient's tissue biopsy is processed.

Errors can include:

Cassette and slide labels that don't match the requisition form
Tissue placed in incorrectly labeled cassettes
Smudged/unreadable handwriting on slides and cassettes
Pre-labeled or re-labeled slides that result in the wrong patient tissue on a slide

In some cases, these types of errors are caught and corrected within the pathology lab. In other cases, mislabeling errors can leave the lab unnoticed.

Nakhleh et al.², quantified:

...mislabeling rates across 136 institutions of cases (0.11%), specimens (0.1%), blocks (0.17%), and slides (0.11%). Errors in labeling appear nearly equally throughout the system of accessioning, gross pathology processing, and tissue cutting. Errors are typically detected in the immediate steps after the errors occurred, reinforcing the need for quality checks throughout the system.

The solution: automated labeling and integrated systems

By reducing the potential for human error, automated labeling protects the integrity of patient samples. Each cassette and slide is given a barcode that, when scanned, tells the histotechnologist which patient the sample belongs to. Ultimately, this means pathologists can be more confident in making the right diagnosis for their patient.

Learn More

Unmasking Specimen ID Errors, Every Step of the Way

_{2: Raouf E. Nakhleh, Michael O. Idowu, Rhona J. Souers, Frederick A. Meier, Leonas G. Bekeris, (2011) Mislabeling of Cases, Specimens, Blocks, and Slides: A College of American Pathologists Study of 136 Institutions. Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine: August 2011, Vol. 135, No. 8, pp. 969-974.}

Cross Contamination

In many labs today, the primary staining process is completed manually through "dipping and dunking" slides into shared reagent baths.

Lost Samples

In the diagnostic process, tissue is precious. Going back for more tissue is difficult and sometimes impossible. For this reason, each tissue sample must be closely protected, every step of the journey through the pathology lab.

Generic Treatment

What works for one patient may be ineffective or even harmful for another. In order to build the most effective treatment plan, pathologists need:

The ability to be not only diagnostic, but also prognostic and predictive about how a patient will respond to a particular therapy or drug
The ability to share information with fellow pathologists quickly, in order to gain outside opinions on difficult cases

Slow Turnaround Time

Time is of the essence when it comes to getting tissue biopsy results back to patients.
But pathology labs face obstacles that can impede the delivery of fast, accurate results:

Manual "dip and dunk" staining can compromise the integrity of tissue samples
Hand labeling can lead to sample misidentification
A lack of sample tracking can lead to lost samples

Errors and Solutions

The pathologist's diagnosis of a tissue sample plays a key role in determining what kind of treatment patients receive, and what sort of outcomes they can expect. But because of errors such as mislabeling and cross contamination, specimens in the lab can be mistaken for those of another patient, leading to misdiagnosis.

Slide and Cassette Labeling Errors

Hand labeling creates the potential for errors that can occur at a number of touch points in the pathology lab as a patient's tissue biopsy is processed.

...