Clinical Pathology Laboratory - Sample Submission
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| We service both the Cornell University Hospital for Animals as well
as the Animal Health Diagnostic Center (AHDC). For how to send in samples to Clin.
Path, through the Diagnostic Laboratory, please view the AHDC
shipping page. |
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| Please submit samples on hospitalized patients as soon as possible
after collection. Submission of samples early in the day allows us
to perform the required tests and get the results into the computer
as quickly as possible. Most of our DL samples come in around lunch
time, resulting in very busy afternoons. Therefore, it is a tremendous
help to us, if you do not batch the samples, but bring them to the
laboratory as early in the day as you can manage. In addition, some
samples should always be rushed over to the laboratory as the analytes
being tested for are unstable. These include STATS, cerebrospinal
fluids, citrate samples for coagulation testing, blood gases and ionized
calcium. Same day results cannot be guaranteed for specimens submitted
after 3 p.m. |
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Sample labeling |
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| Strict attention should be paid to the correct labeling of samples
and request forms (see image below). |
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All samples must be correctly labeled with the patient identification
and owner name. This includes cytology smears and tubes. For cytology
smears taken from several sites, label each slide as to which site
it represents. |
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For fluids other than blood, all sample containers must be labeled
with the patient ID and what type of fluid it holds. This includes
urine samples submitted in red top tubes. Samples of body fluids that
are not identified in this way will be treated as mislabeled/unlabeled
specimens and will not be accessioned and processed.You may label
peritoneal fluid as PTF, pericardial fluid as PCF, pleural fluid as
PLF, joint fluid as JF, cerebrospinal fluid as CSF, tracheal wash
as TW, nasal wash as NW, bronchoalveolar lavage as BAL, etc. |
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All samples must be accompanied by an appropriately filled out
request form (examples of which are provided under each of our
tests). There are six Clin. Path. request forms, each a different
color: |
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Pink: Hematology / Coagulation
Blue: Routine Chemistry
Yellow: Urinalysis / Urine Chemistry / Calculus Analysis
White: Cytology / Bone Marrow / Fluid Analysis & Chemistries
Salmon: Immunology / Special Chemistry
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All request forms MUST have the following information: |
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Patient identification
Owner's name
Species
Date and time collected
Service
Clinician's and student's names
Tests requested - we are not mind readers
History - History details are essential for cytology, in
particular. It is not sufficient just to provide presenting clinical
signs. Give us all the information you have available, including
nature of the lesion aspirated, ultrasonographic or radiologic
findings, differential diagnoses. For example, for a liver aspirate,
it is not enough to tell us that the animal has been vomiting
for a week, we need to know why the liver was sampled. Was it
enlarged? Was there a mass? Were there multiple masses? All this
information is very useful. A history should also be provided
with any hematology or coagulation requests, including a differential
diagnosis. For example, if you tell us the dog has lymphoma, we
are prewarned to look for circulating lymphoblasts in the blood
smear. For test requests other than cytology or hematology, a
differential diagnosis is sufficient under history details. Always
tell us if an animal has been recently transfused, been administered
oxyglobin or is on bromide therapy. All these interfere with our
test results.
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The patient information on the request form must match that on the
submitted samples. UNLABELED OR INCORRECTLY LABELED SPECIMENS WILL
NOT BE PROCESSED. If a sample is unlabeled, incorrectly labeled
or does not match the request form, we will attempt to notify the
clinican/technician/student (if this is provided on the form or is
available in CREC) involved with the case by paging. It is the responsibility
of the clincian/technician/student on the case to rectify and
take responsibility for the incorrect sample labeling by coming to
Clinical Pathology. This will not be done over the telephone, under
any circumstances. The sample will not be accessioned or processed
until it is correctly labeled with the appropriately filled out request
forms. Note that samples that are unlabeled or incorrectly labeled
and have not been rectified by the end of the working day will be
discarded. |
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Do not submit samples in gloves, baggies, etc. All urine and
fecal samples should be submitted in rigid plastic containers, with
a tight-fitting lid, and should be properly labeled (owner's name,
patient ID, type of specimen). |
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Do not submit syringes with needles attached. Syringes for
blood gases should be capped with a black rubber stopper. All other
fluid samples collected in a syringe, should be capped with a black
rubber stopper, or submitted to the laboratory in a red-top vacutainer
or plastic container. |
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All biohazard samples and forms should be labelled appropriately.
Samples considered biohazards include: Rabies or leptospirosis samples
or any sample containing radioactive materials. Samples from animals
treated with radioactive materials should also be labeled with the
date and time of treatment. Submission of such samples should be 24
hours after treatment, if possible. |
An example of a correctly filled out CUHA hematology request form
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Where to leave Cornell University Hospital for Animal samples |
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| Samples should be brought straight over to the laboratory. Please
inform someone in the laboratory that you are leaving samples, and
what kind of tests need to be run. |
