Abstract
Educational content is essential for shaping and advancing knowledge on, and improving the quality of, the preanalytical phase of the total testing process for biological samples. Process steps occurring after the preanalytical phase are also impacted by educational content about this phase. This literature review includes studies on education and training that focus on blood collection performed by non-laboratory healthcare staff. The aim is to suggest developments for educational content on sample collection occurring outside the laboratory to facilitate learning and improve the quality of the preanalytical phase of the total testing process when performed by non-laboratory healthcare staff. The 39 articles included in this review were published from 2010 to 2016, and were identified from an initial literature search of electronic databases conducted in 2015, and a second additional search conducted at the end of 2016 using keywords and certain selection criteria. The articles were categorized into three groups according to the suggestions for educational content for training non-laboratory staff about the preanalytical phase of the total testing process. Each of three categories represented an approach to the content that could influence knowledge development and the quality of the training. The findings of this review provide new and unconventional perspectives that may be used to further develop educational content for, and the knowledge of, non-laboratory healthcare professionals regarding biological sample collection. The findings also contribute to reduced field errors by non-laboratory healthcare professionals during the preanalytical phase of the total testing process.
Key words: literature review, preanalytical, blood sample collection, education, multi-professional