Clinica chimica acta; international journal of clinical chemistry
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Errors associated with laboratory testing can cause significant patient harm. Sendout testing refers to tests sent by a primary lab to a reference lab when testing is unavailable at the primary lab. Sendout testing is particularly high risk for patient harm, due to many factors including increased hand-offs, manual processes, and complexity associated with rare, low-volume tests. No published prospective tools exist for sendout risk assessment. ⋯ This tool could be used by other laboratories to identify the areas of highest risk to patients, which in turn may guide them in focusing their quality improvement efforts and resources.