Blogs

The Essence: The Best of February 2021

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 03-09-2021
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from "Have You Adjusted Your Lab’s Reference Intervals to Accommodate a New Instrument?" to “How Much Can Labs Reduce Inpatient Non-Sendout Ordering?”. Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in February. Have You Adjusted Your Lab’s Reference Intervals to Accommodate a New Instrument? Initiated by @Matthew Wasco, MD Switching to new instruments can cause laboratorians to consider adjusting their reference intervals to accept ranges suggested by the manufacturers. But ...
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The Essence: The Best of December 2020

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 01-07-2021
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from "Will FDA or CDC be releasing guidance on how lab professionals can assess immune status in people who receive the COVID-19 vaccine?" to “eGFR Calculations and DEI?”. Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in December. Assessing Effectiveness of COVID-19 Vaccinations Initiated by @Jack Maggiore, PhD, MT(ASCP) Will FDA or CDC be releasing guidance on how lab professionals can assess immune status in people who receive the COVID-19 vaccine? Respondents don’t know ...
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The Essence: The Best of November 2020

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 12-09-2020
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from "Does Your Lab Receive an Overwhelming Number of Calls from Nurses?" to “Should Vaccination of People with Persistent SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies be Temporarily Deferred?”. Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in November. Increased Phone Calls Initiated by @Shelley D’Attilio, MT (ASCP)   One lab is being crushed by telephone calls from nursing staff looking for the status of SARS-CoV-2 tests and is wondering if other labs have the same problem and what they’ve ...
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The Essence: The Best of October 2020

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 11-06-2020
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from "For what length of time do SARS-CoV-2-positive patients continue to shed virus?" to “What would a CAP inspector do if a lab were not following the manufacturer’s SOP/recommendations for molecular SARS-CoV-2 methods with FDA EUAs”. Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in October. Drug Testing in Oral Fluid Initiated by @Paul Davis, NRCC, ABFT When labs test for cocaine in oral fluid, should they test for cocaine, benzoylecgonine (BE), or both? One respondent says ...
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The Essence: The Best of September 2020

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 10-01-2020
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from 'How to Determine if a [COVID-19] Positive Result is False?' to “[Does] Anyone Use Separate Reference Ranges for Serum and Whole Blood Ionized Calcium?”. Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in September. False Positives Rapid Testing in Hospital Initiated by @Gerard Abate, MD One Artery user has a COVID-19 patient who, after three weeks of hospitalization, tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 in the central lab, but tested positive with a rapid test. He is wondering ...
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The Essence: The Best of August 2020

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 09-02-2020
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from “Are there formal guidelines on pre-surgical procedure COVID testing?” to “Adopting pooled COVID testing- does reporting overwhelm your staff?”. Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in August. Arterial Blood Samples for Tests Initiated by @Qing Meng, PhD, MD, DABCC, FAACC One lab has learned that most of the blood samples they receive are arterial and not venous, leading them to wonder if their tests would be considered lab-developed tests, since most of their chemistry ...
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The Essence: The Best of July 2020

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 08-03-2020
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from “How Effective Would it be to Implement Antigen-Based COVID-19 Point-of-Care Testing for Airport Arrivals?” to “What Do Other Lab Professionals Think About Preheating COVID-19 Serum Samples Prior to Running Serology IgG and IgM?”. Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in July. Antigen-based POC COVID-19 Test Initiated by @Vivek Pant, MD How effective would it be to implement antigen-based COVID-19 point-of-care testing for airport arrivals? Although antigen tests ...
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The Essence: The Best of June 2020

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 07-02-2020
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from “Should COVID Serology Positives Be Confirmed?” to “Do Any Labs Have Guidance or a Policy for Pooling Samples for SARS-CoV-2 PCR Testing?”. Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in June. Should COVID Serology Positives Be Confirmed? Initiated by @Charles Beavers, MD Given the high probability of encountering false positives with serology, is anyone considering confirmation testing with another antigen (e.g. spike vs. nucleocapsid antibodies)? One respondent says ...
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The Essence: The Best of May 2020

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 06-04-2020
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from “Serum or plasma?” to “Why is COVID more frequent in men than in women?”. Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in May. Drive Up Phlebotomy Initiated by @Alison Woodworth, PhD, DABCC, FAACC With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, one institute has been asked to set up a drive up phlebotomy service and is wondering if others are doing the same. One respondent’s institute is: They first screen patients with an IR thermometer at the entrance to the parking garage. Patients ...
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The Essence: The Best of April 2020

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 05-06-2020
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from “Are Early Serological Markers Necessary?” to “Should We Test Surgery Patients for COVID-19 on a Pre-op Basis?”. Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in April. Pneumatic Tube System for COVID Samples Initiated by @Kathryn Lloyd, MD Should pneumatic tube systems be used for delivering COVID-19 specimens to the lab? CDC’s website advises against transporting respiratory COVID-19 specimens via pneumatic tube, while in a call, the agency advised against using tube ...
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The Essence: The Best of March 2020

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 04-08-2020
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from “How Do You Flag Send-Out Tests in Your EMR?” to “Masking in the Lab?”. Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in March. Hemoglobin A1c Flags and Unusual Results Initiated by @Matthew Wasco, MD A lab recently implemented a new HbA1c electrophoresis assay, and one of the flags that has popped up more than others is a broad peak of A1c. What does this finding mean? Respondents say possible causes could include an interfering hemoglobin fragment, a rare post-translational ...
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UPDATE: AACC Actions on COVID-19

By Carmen Wiley, PhD, DABCC, FAACC posted 04-03-2020
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The essential work of clinical laboratory professionals could never be clearer than it is now, as the coronavirus pandemic tightens its grip in the U.S. and in countries worldwide. AACC members have been diligently and determinedly developing, validating, and implementing SARS-CoV-2 tests while also responding to the surge in diagnostic testing from the mounting influx of patients with COVID-19 illness. Our Policy and External Affairs Core Committee has been working closely with me and the AACC staff to assess this ever-changing situation. We will continue to proactively advocate for you to efficiently develop and perform SARS-CoV-2 tests and to raise public ...
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The Essence: The Best of February 2020

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 03-04-2020
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from “Does your lab perform annual/periodic carryover assessment of analyzers with automatic pipetting systems?” to “Are the methods you use for AST & ALT supplemented with P-5’-P?”.  Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in February. Pathology Review for Absolute Lymphocyte Count Initiated by @Richard Hancock, MT (ASCP) One member is wondering if other labs could share their upper limits for absolute lymphocyte count on a peripheral smear that requires a ...
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The Essence: The Best of January 2020

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 02-06-2020
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from “What reference range do labs use when running quantitative hCG on males?” to “What is your critical value notification process?” Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in January. Quantitative hCG on Males Initiated by @Linda England, MT (ASCP) What reference range do labs use when running quantitative hCG on males? Respondents say that hCG in men should normally be undetectable, and that each individual lab should verify a male reference interval for its own local ...
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A Warm Welcome From Your AACC President

By Carmen Wiley, PhD, DABCC, FAACC posted 01-09-2020
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Dear Members, At the start of a new year and new decade I am pleased to update you on the progress AACC has made in the past 12 months and on what we look forward to in 2020. Our new strategic plan—debuted at the 2019 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting—features five goals collectively aimed at ensuring that the association keeps meeting the needs and professional interests of our diverse membership base. One of those goals—building advocacy and influence—emphasizes AACC’s visibility in modernizing regulations, limiting cuts to laboratory reimbursement, and ensuring laboratory medicine has a crucial place in evolving payment methods. In 2020 we will continue our ...
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Conversations that Matter – Top Discussions of 2019

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 01-08-2020
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The Artery is your community, where you can ask questions, get answers, connect with fellow colleagues, and learn from each other. Many great discussions took place on the Artery throughout 2019, but some received a lot of extra attention. Below are the threads from last year with the highest number of replies. Enjoy re-reading the best of 2019. Fasting Specimen of 75g OGTT Initiated by @Yun Trull, PhD MAY.6.2019 What protocol do labs follow when deciding whether or not to give a patient a 2h 75g OGTT? Many institutions send a fasting specimen to the main lab for glucose testing, and if the result is too high, they cancel the OGTT. Some labs also screen ...
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The Essence: The Best of December 2019

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 01-06-2020
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The Artery is a great resource for all AACC members—a place where you can ask your questions about laboratory practice and receive prompt, detailed responses. Each month our editor selects some of the best new Artery discussions. Below are our editor's picks for December. How many decimals does your ultrasensitive-PSA have? Initiated by @Charles Beavers, MD The original poster’s lab recently changed to 2 decimal places, but he noticed that major reference labs vary a lot in how many decimal places they report (from 1 to 3) and is wondering what other labs do. A couple respondents say that labs should not report out to 3 decimal places unless they’ve validated ...
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The Essence: The Best of November 2019

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 12-04-2019
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from “Which equation do labs use to calculate eGFR using serum creatinine values?” to “What is the difference between a lead test that is marketed as an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) lead test versus a plain lead test?”. Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in November. Quality Control Storage Initiated by @Robert Rosecrans, PhD, ABB, FAACC One poster is wondering why his lab was cited by a mock Joint Commission inspector for storing quality ...
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The Essence: The Best of October 2019

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 11-07-2019
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from “How many IO-PTHs do others run at their hospitals?” to “What instruments do labs use to report the pH on cord blood specimens?” Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in October. Intraoperative PTH Volume? Initiated by @Charles Beavers, MD How many IO-PTHs do others run at their hospitals, and at what volume does it make sense to have a stat lab for this test? Other institutes run anywhere from 1-2 per week to 1-2 per day. Labs in the 1-2 per week range run ...
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The Essence: The Best of September 2019

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 10-07-2019
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Last month on the Artery, several solutions were found to questions ranging from “when should a lab perform ioPTH measurements?” to “who should collect sweat chloride specimens?” Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in September. How Late Does Your Laboratory Offer ioPTH Measurements? Initiated by @Joe Wiencek, PhD, DABCC, FAACC The majority of respondents say their labs don’t restrict when they perform intraoperative PTH, but that almost all requests they receive come in during the day shift. One respondent added that his lab is informed about ioPTH testing the day before, while another respondent said her lab has access ...
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