Rejection Criteria for COVID-19 Specimen

COVID-19 specimen can be rejected based on the following criteria:

• The identification on the requisition and specimen do not match:
  
• unlabelled or mislabelled specimens
• A specimen that requires approval, that has not been approved by the appropriate Lab Clinical staff. Examples of unsuitable specimens are:
• Incorrect specimen collection container
• insufficient specimen quantity
• Transported incorrectly
• Inadequate fixative
• specimen too large for container
• Incorrect media
• Specimen stability compromised (i.e., age of specimen, temperature stored)
• Any specimen submitted in a manner which could create a health or safety hazard to laboratory personnel is considered unacceptable (e.g., leaking specimens, syringes or blood products with needles attached.)
• Signature for 'Collected by and identified by' required for all collections
• Incomplete, inaccurate, or illegible information on the requisition
• Discrepancies between requisition patient information and specimen label information
• Incomplete or missing signatures verifying patient identity

Actions when samples are rejected

• If the unacceptable sample can be replaced, notify the requesting healthcare provider.
• Document the reason for the sample unacceptability and request another sample.
• Do not discard the sample until the patient’s healthcare provider has confirmed that another can be collected
• If a repeat sample is not available, document the problem and proceed with the test if possible