Abstract
BACKGROUND: Due to the high prevalence of hemolysis in specimens received from the emergency department (ED), several strategies have been proposed to improve sample quality, but none of these seem effective to overcome the problem. In a preliminary study we showed that the use of S-Monovette blood collection system was effective to lower the risk of hemolysis in venous blood samples collected from intravenous catheters. This study was hence aimed to verify whether the replacement of a conventional vacuum system with S-Monovette may be effective to reduce the burden of hemolysis in the daily practice of a large urban ED. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was divided in two observational periods of 4 months each. In the former period, blood was collected from intravenous catheters using BD Vacutainer SST II Plus plastic serum tubes, whereas in the latter period the blood was drawn from intravenous catheters using S-Monovette blood tubes in aspiration mode. Sample hemolysis was automatically assessed in all serum samples by photometrical measurement. RESULTS: The total number of hemolysed serum specimens was 624/14155 (4.41%) in the first phase of the study, and 342/13319 (2.57%) in the second phase of the study (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Results of our study confirm that the introduction of the Sarstedt S-Monovette blood tubes has reduced the hemolysis rate in the emergency department compared to the previously used BD Vacutainer® SST II Plus plastic serum tubes.