Automation

Question 1

1. Which type of specimen label has resulted in a reduction
   in preanalytical specimen identification errors and is used
   extensively in automated specimen identification?

a. Social Security numbers stamped on all individual
specimen containers
b. Hospital identification numbers written on tubes of
blood
c. Labels containing bar codes that are unique identifiers
d. Medical accounting numbers written on the lids of all
containers

Answer 1

c. Labels containing bar codes that are unique identifiers

Question 2

2. One serious issue with the use of accelerating/decelerating pneumatic tube systems to deliver specimens to the laboratory is the occurrence of:

a. clot formation.
b. hemolysis.
c. specimen breakage.
d. specimen volume loss.

Answer 2

b. hemolysis.

Question 3

3. Which of the following activities are important in the evaluation of the need for automation and in identifying the
   solution?

a. Workflow mapping
b. Plotting the volumes of arriving specimen by the hour
of the day
c. Vendor analyses and presentations of findings
d. Visiting laboratories with installed systems and asking
frank questions
e. All of the above

Answer 3

?

Question 4

4. The transport of a quantity of analyte or reagent from
   one specimen reaction into a subsequent one is referred
   to as

a. batching.
b. carryover.
c. misdelivery.
d. indiscrete handling.

Answer 4

b. carryover

Question 5

5. What makes automation of the polymerase chain reaction
   much easier?

a. Capillary electrophoresis
b. Fluorescence feedback to automatically control the
denaturation temperature
c. Primer specificity
d. Thermostable polymerase

Answer 5

d. Thermostable polymerase

Question 6

6. Future opportunities for automating massively parallel
   sequencing include:

a. Sample preparation
b. Capillary electrophoresis
c. Thermostable polymerase
d. Quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR

Answer 6

d. Quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR