Comparative Validation Study between Pneumatic Tube System and Hand Carried Blood Sample

Abstract

Rapid delivery of specimens is crucial in today's clinical laboratories, and pneumatic tube systems are commonly utilized for this purpose. The validation of sample stability through pneumatic tube system (PTS) is essential. The use of Pneumatic Tube System can improve specimen turnaround time; allowing more effective time management of the porters by reducing the need to physically take specimens from one department to another. Prior to use, the Pneumatic tube system must be validated to ensure the reliability of laboratory test results, particularly those impacted by movement, such as lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), potassium (K+), complete blood count (CBC), particularly hemoglobin and coagulation tests. The most common way of validating pneumatic tube systems is to compare blood samples transported by pneumatic tube systems to blood samples transported by hand. High speeds and rapid acceleration of blood samples can increase the risk of hemolysis and negatively affect sample quality and test results. Moreover, the installation and design of each pneumatic tube system exhibit unique characteristics that are exclusive to each individual institution. The established protocol necessitated the use of either a human courier or pneumatic tube technology in order to transport a collection of replicated samples to the laboratory. Comparative research will be conducted on a sample size of twenty healthy adult volunteers to assess the integrity of the sample. The main objective of our study was to evaluate the effects of PTS transportation on laboratory results and whether is there any difference as compared to hand courier method.