I'm Great

Renee is the lab safety manager for a small (<50 employees) blood and urine sample

analysis company, Best Pet Test, Inc. The company receives samples from veterinarian

offices and animal shelters in the tri-state area. Rene began working with Best Pet Test

six months earlier. Her predecessor, Harold, held the position for 15 years and did not

keep accurate records. Rene has been looking through old files and contacting clients,

suppliers, and contractors to better grasp the current status of the workflow at Best Pet Test,

Inc.

In the sample analysis lab, ten employees and one supervisor are responsible for

receiving, cataloging, and testing samples. When samples arrive, they are given a barcoded decal in order to track them through the process. For the last year, however, 

two of the three hand-held bar-code readers have not been working and staff compensates

by adding a handwritten label to the samples. Recently, the lab staff has begun to notice

inconsistencies in the performance or results of sample testing. Below is a graph of a

recent real-time or quantitative PCR of canine blood samples for the presence of a

bacterial pathogen (Figure 1). The solid line on the graph represents the negative control

sample, which contained water plus reagents. The dotted lines represent the test samples.

Upon seeing the results, the lab supervisor, Beth, is not pleased with her employees' lab

techniques.