D
Patient 1
THE CUSTOMER REPORTED THAT ERRONEOUSLY HIGH TOTAL BILIRUBIN (TBIL) RESULTS WERE GENERATED FROM A UNICEL DXC 600I SYNCHRON ACCESS CLINICAL SYSTEM FOR ONE PATIENT'S SAMPLES OVER TWO DAYS. THIS REPORT IS ONE OF TWO AND REPRESENTS THE ERRONEOUSLY HIGH TOTAL BILIRUBIN (TBIL) RESULT GENERATED FROM A UNICEL DXC 600I SYNCHRON ACCESS CLINICAL SYSTEM ON (B)(6) 2011 FOR ONE PATIENT SAMPLE. THE INITIAL TBIL RESULT WAS A SUPPRESSED VALUE WITH AN "OUT OF INSTRUMENT RANGE HIGH" INSTRUMENT FLAG. UPON REPEAT TESTING OF A DILUTION OF THE SAMPLE, THE LABORATORY TECHNICIAN INCORRECTLY CALCULATED THE END RESULT. THE TECHNICIAN DID NOT FOLLOW THE CALCULATION INSTRUCTIONS PROVIDED IN A BECKMAN COULTER INC. TECHNICAL APPLICATIONS LETTER DATED (B)(6) 2007. DUE TO THIS ERROR, THE REPORTED RESULT WAS TEN TIMES THE CORRECT RESULT. THE PATIENT WAS ADMITTED TO THE HOSPITAL. IT IS UNKNOWN AS TO WHETHER HOSPITAL ADMISSION WAS BASED UPON THIS INCORRECT RESULT, HOWEVER FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS REPORT IT IS ASSUMED THAT HOSPITAL ADMISSION WAS LINKED TO THE ERRONEOUS TBIL RESULT. A PHYSICIAN QUESTIONED THE HIGH RESULT AND THE SAMPLE WAS RETESTED ON A DILUTED SAMPLE UTILIZING THE CORRECT CALCULATION TO GENERATE THE FINAL RESULT. THIS RESULT WAS LOWER, MORE BELIEVABLE, AND REGARDED AS VALID. SPECIFIC PATIENT INFORMATION AND SAMPLE COLLECTION/HANDLING INFORMATION WAS NOT SUPPLIED BY THE CUSTOMER. INSTRUMENT TBIL QUALITY CONTROLS RESULTS DURING THE TIMEFRAME OF THE EVENT WERE FOUND TO BE WITHIN SPECIFICATION.