Assessing the Pre-Analytic Phase of Laboratory Testing and Measuring the Impact of an Educational Knowledge Translation Strategy on Medical Imaging Teams

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess the knowledge base of the radiology team regarding preanalytic laboratory specimen collection and to determine the effectiveness of an educational knowledge translation seminar on improving the understanding of these core concepts. Materials & Methods: 30 examinations sets were distributed to eligible personnel who participated in an educational seminar presented by three diagnostic laboratory physicians. Following the seminar the same written examination was completed anonymously and the post-seminar examinations were collected and tallied. Results: 24 of these examination sets were complete sets (80%) and used for data analysis. The breakdown of respondents were 2 radiologists (8%), 3 registered nurses (12.5%) and 19 technologists (79.2%). Before the seminar the range of scores of the written examination ranged from 0-57.1%. The mean pre-seminar score was 40%. Following the educational session the range of scores of the written examination were from 57% 100% and the mean score was 88.5%. Conclusion: Based on the authors' results of this study there is a need for additional training regarding proper specimen collection. The study also suggests that a knowledge translation strategy, such as an educational seminar addressing institutional specific specimen collection protocols, can be an effective tool to address deficiencies.