Specimen-collection standards complete major revisions.

T he Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI, formerly NCCLS) has been publishing standards and guidelines for clinicallaboratory procedures since the early 1970s. At least six documents detail proper specimen-collection and -processing procedures; most have been recently revised. The revisions reflect significant changes that all specimen-collection personnel, regardless of their professional discipline, must know in order to perform procedures consistent with the most current research and industry regulations. Because published standards and guidelines carry significant weight in legal proceedings, managers who base their procedure manuals on the most current CLSI documents not only help assure that their staffs’ techniques are up-to-date, but also assure the practice of good risk management. To revise a document, CLSI assembles a volunteer working group consisting of representatives from government, industry, and the medical professions who arrive at a consensus on each revision based on research and other literature published since the last published edition of the document under review. This article discusses key changes to four major specimen-collection and -processing documents recently revised by CLSI — from which passages are reproduced here with permission — including: