MLAB 2401: Clinical Chemistry

1. MLAB 2401: Clinical Chemistry Basic Principles and Practice of Clinical Chemistry, part 2

2. General Laboratory Equipment: Balances • Type chosen dependent on volume/weight needed and degree of accuracy required.

3. General Laboratory Equipment: Balances (con’t)

4. Balances: How to Use • Balance must be located in a vibration-free area, including air currents • Balance must be kept clean • Periodically calibrated with known weights • Use plastic weigh boats or paper to weigh chemicals

5. General Laboratory Equipment: Centrifuge • Purpose • Separating solids from a liquid suspension by means of centrifugal force • Types • Benchtop • Swing-bucket • Fixed-head or fixed-angle • Ultracentrifuge • Maintenance • Interior and exterior cleaning • Verification of accuracy of timers and speeds

6. General Laboratory Equipment • Other separation methods • Filtration of materials • Dialysis - This method makes use of a semi-permeable membrane that allows separation of molecules using their size

7. Specimen Collection and Processing • Medical ethics in specimen collection – professionalism and confidentiality at all times • Special collection procedures • Fasting specimens: overnight for most tests, 12 hours for lipid studies • Timed interval specimens • Examples include glucose tolerance, therapeutic drug monitoring, and hormone stimulation testing • Legal chain of evidence

8. Specimen Processing and Quality Assurance • Quality Assurance • Plans, policies, and procedures that provide a framework for quality goals • Three Components • Preanalytical • Analytical • Post-Analytical

9. Specimen processing • Serum separators – • Gel barrier • Plastic tube device

10. References Bishop, M., Fody, E., & Schoeff, l. (2010). Clinical Chemistry: Techniques, principles, Correlations. Baltimore: Wolters Kluwer Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Sunheimer, R., & Graves, L. (2010). Clinical Laboratory Chemistry. Upper Saddle River: Pearson .