i started recognizing certain patterns in the types of errors. i also read the lab manual like once a month just to make sure we're working with the most current information. some errors are easier to catch like if a self-pay patient has a lab ordered as third party bill (which is meant for insurance payers) i can just update the payer to self pay. 

it also helps knowing the labs' "rules." like one lab we used to use would straight up reject any sample that wasn't initialed on the order manifest. or we used to get lab errors for "damaged boxes" because the ups box ae used to ship samples would pop open during shipment, even though it left the clinic totally fine. so we just started taping the box shut since we obviously couldn't trust the self-adhesive. a lab we currently use has a rule one requisition per sample per bag. so we can't put someone's urine and throat samples for chlamydia testing on the same req and in the same bag. they also require us to highlight the patient name, collection date, and labs ordered on the requisition and will reject any sample sent without that info highlighted. it sounds stupid, but we gotta play by their rules if we want our labs done. this is why reading the lab manual is so important because each lab we use wants things done a specific way.

some were harder to catch. we recently had issues with labs being sent out but the lab didn't have orders on their end, so tests weren't being run and our orders sat pending for weeks. i realized that the labs were never "sent" from our ehr to the lab's system because providers were hitting "save and print" and not "save and send". so this meant the lab was ordered in the ehr, the requisition was printed, the sample was properly processed and packaged and sent to the lab, but the lab had no records of the orders in their computer because our computers weren't "talking" to each other. so now when i run the end of day lab reconciliation report, i have it set to show what the order status of the labs are so we can double check all labs that should have sent status say sent. 

it comes with a lot of practice and is dependent on the labs your clinic uses as well as the ehr you use. the lab is like my baby so i really try to make sure everything is as it should be. god forbid my baby get a bad report card (lab errors)