[Peripheral specimen collecting centers. Preanalytical control].
UNLABELLED: The progressive decentralization in the process of sample drawing and collection of biological samples has produced a socio-economical improvement for the general public and for health systems specifically even though this requires a higher degree of control to avoid pre-analytical errors derived from this procedure by the laboratories receiving these aforementioned samples. This study is based on 372,243 drawings, taken from June 1994 until December 1996 at 74 sample drawing centers and the systematic recording of any errors committed during the drawing, conservation and transportation of the diverse biological samples drawn. The results indicate an overall incident rate of 1.5% broken down by year as 1.3% in 1994, 1.3% in 1995 and 1.9% in 1996 and broken down by type as 0.7% in blood samples, 0.7% in urine samples, and 0.07% due to other errors such as transportation. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: 1. The incident rate is slightly lower than that obtained in a prior study of similar characteristics. 2. The small increase in the incident rate which occurred in 1996 is attributed to an improvement in the error recording system. 3. We recommend continuing applying strategies which permit one to detect, limit, and if possible, reduce these types of errors. These strategies include periodical meetings and professional development.