Laboratory diagnostics is critical to both the clinical decision making and to the managed care of the vast majority of human disorders (1). Quality testing encompasses a number of aspects spanning throughout the total testing process, and hence beginning from test ordering and ideally concluding with results communication to the requesting physician. Despite several lines of evidence attest that the vast majority of diagnostic errors emerge from the so-called preanalytical phase (2), sample analysis and transmission of test results are also vulnerable parts of the total testing process. As regards the last aspect, the identification and timely communication of “highly pathological” values are still regarded as essential elements of good laboratory practice (3).
