An important aspect of the laboratory tracer is the questioning process. Once the decision has been made for conducting a tracer, the laboratory should develop a series of applicable mock survey questions for appropriate personnel. Some examples of questions that may be asked by the surveyor are listed below.
- What safety measures have you taken or introduced to reduce the incidence of (the topic of the tracer)?
- What is the laboratory's policy for dealing with (the topic of the tracer)?
- Specific laboratory department staff, e.g., hematology, microbiology, blood bank
- Outline specimen collection requirements for the tests performed.
- Describe the process for preparing the specimen for the test(s) performed
- What quality control was evaluated? What were the results?
- If corrective action was required for quality control, what is the process for documenting that corrective action?
- What is the protocol for ordering laboratory tests?
- What is the process for reviewing laboratory tests and alerting the physician to abnormal or critical laboratory results?
- How is the read-back requirement recorded?
- How are stat orders administered?
- Where can you locate instructions for the collection of specimens?
- How do patient care areas alert you to specimens that need to be collected?
- How are stat collections handled?
- Describe the process for labeling specimens collected.
- Describe how the specimens would be accessioned and processed for (the tests being traced)
- How are stat specimens processed compared to routine specimens?
- How is the testing department alerted to stat specimens?
Topics to be covered in the questioning should span the entire process. As with all aspects of laboratory testing, the coverage of questioning should be preanalytic through post-analytic.
