ABSTRACT
@#The objectives of this study were to determine the rate of rejection of blood samples sent to the haematology section in the Pathology laboratory and to identify the areas of sample collection and the reasons for rejection. This retrospective study was conducted at the Port Moresby General Hospital within the period April 2012 to March 2013. The data was retrieved from the sample registration records in the haematology section. The percent cumulative rate of sample rejection over the 12 months duration of the study was 1.44%. The areas with the highest rate of rejected samples were those from the accident and emergency ward (23.19%) followed by children’s ward (22.39%). Some of the causes for rejection were clotting of blood samples (19.24%) followed by requisition forms without samples (18.32%) and unlabelled samples (15.65%). Thus, technical errors in the pre-analytical phase of the laboratory testing were among the common reasons for rejection. This include insufficient blood collection, not inverting the sample bottle straight after collecting the blood for effective mixing with the anti-coagulant to prevent clotting, incorrect labelling of samples and request forms, and sending samples unaccompanied by request forms. The pre-analytical phase is vital in ensuring sample integrity and correct patient identification