IG-06 Specimen Handling, Packaging & Transport

A · Transport within TCH — §5.2

Check for special transport requirements before dispatch; secure lids for a complete, leak-proof seal.
Carry in trays or racks. Requisition folded in thirds (label face up) in the rear pocket of the zip-lock biohazard bag; specimen in the main pouch.
Bring specimens to the laboratory promptly — improper transport or storage may invalidate results.
Specimens in a syringe are unacceptable unless the test's method specifically indicates it.
Cracked, damaged or leaking containers are a biologic hazard — discard and notify the unit to submit a new specimen.

B · Receiving & preparing — §5.5

Accept only with: two identifiers (name, MRN, order no.), legible diagnosis where applicable, adequate tube fill, no contamination, correct bag packaging. If any check fails, the specimen is not received.
Log date/time of receipt; assign a unique accession number; re-check details against requisition and label.
Transit over 120 minutes? Evaluate against the specific test's stability requirements (not automatic rejection).
Clot-activator tubes: allow 5–30 minutes to clot. Anticoagulated specimens may be spun immediately. Specimens for unseparated whole blood (e.g. HbA1c) are not centrifuged. Chilled specimens stay at 2–8 °C until spinning.

C · Centrifuge & storage — §5.8

1000–1300 ×g

Chemistry serum/plasma · ~10 min

400 ×g · 5 min

Urine sediment · 10–12 mL

Tubes stay capped, vertical, closure-up at all times. Protect photosensitive tests (e.g. bilirubin) from light.
Remove serum from the clot as soon as possible (max 2 hours for red-top tubes without a separator barrier).
Never re-centrifuge SST or red-top tubes — and never re-spin tubes for potassium (falsely increased).
Storage of separated serum/plasma: room temperature no longer than 8 hours — refrigerate if testing is not completed in time; freeze at ≤ −20 °C if storage exceeds 48 hours. Thaw once only, at room temperature, invert 10–20 times.

Flag — two refrigeration triggers: §5.8 item 13 states the 8-hour room-temperature limit, and in the same sentence says serum/plasma “is refrigerated if testing is not complete within 5 hours”. Both are printed in the Index as written — the policy does not resolve which governs. Also: centrifuge values above are the policy's approximate ranges; equipment-specific settings must be verified against the actual centrifuge before use (§5.8 item 11).

Send-out — triple packaging (§5.12)

Every send-out: watertight primary container → watertight secondary container with enough absorbent to absorb the full contents → rigid outer container (cardboard/wood strength; bags/envelopes are not acceptable). Refrigerant goes outside the secondary container — cold bricks/gel packs preferred over ice; dry ice also outside the secondary, with a vented outer package.

Over 50 mL total: add shock-absorbent material at least equal in volume to the absorbent · single primary container ≤ 1000 mL · total per outer container ≤ 4000 mL. Notifiable-disease referrals follow LAB-QM-PRE-002.