ISAC Incident Response and Reporting 4

Question 1

A laboratory investigates a cytometry reporting delay and discovers it was caused by an understaffed evening shift. Which category of root cause does this represent?

Accepted Answer

Staffing and resource management issue

Answer

Equipment failure

Answer

Human error

Answer

Reagent quality failure

Question 2

Which timeframe is generally recommended by accreditation bodies for completing a root cause analysis following a serious laboratory incident?

Accepted Answer

Within 45 days

Answer

Within 24 hours

Answer

Within one year

Answer

Only when requested by the patient

Question 3

A cytometry laboratory implements a new SOP after an incident but the same error recurs three months later. What does this MOST likely indicate?

Accepted Answer

The corrective action was inadequate or staff were not properly trained on the new SOP

Answer

The incident was too complex to prevent

Answer

A different root cause was responsible for the second incident

Answer

SOPs are ineffective for preventing laboratory errors

Question 4

Under HIPAA, how must incident reports containing protected health information (PHI) be stored?

Accepted Answer

Securely, with access restricted to authorized personnel involved in quality management

Answer

In an open-access shared drive for transparency

Answer

Shared with all hospital staff as part of open disclosure

Answer

Uploaded to a public reporting database within 24 hours

Question 5

A flow cytometry technologist notices that a colleague has been consistently bypassing the specimen labeling verification step. What is the most appropriate professional response?

Accepted Answer

Report the deviation to the supervisor as a potential safety risk and document the observation

Answer

Ignore it since no errors have occurred yet

Answer

Confront the colleague publicly in the laboratory

Answer

Bypass the same step to maintain workflow consistency

Question 6

Which of the following best illustrates the concept of 'just culture' in the context of cytometry laboratory incident reporting?

Accepted Answer

Distinguishing between inadvertent human error and reckless behavior when determining accountability

Answer

Punishing all staff involved in an error equally regardless of intent

Answer

Keeping all incident reports confidential from laboratory staff

Answer

Reporting only errors that result in patient harm to regulatory bodies

Question 7

A cytometry laboratory receives an external CAP proficiency testing sample and reports an incorrect immunophenotype. What is the required response?

Accepted Answer

Investigate the failure, perform root cause analysis, and submit a corrective action report to CAP

Answer

Discard the PT result and reorder next cycle's challenge

Answer

Report only to internal QA without notifying CAP

Answer

Attribute the error to the PT sample quality and take no further action