Why is pre-labelling of specimen containers considered unacceptable practice?

Pre-labelling of specimen containers is considered unacceptable practice primarily because it can lead to wrong blood in tube errors, which can have serious, possibly fatal consequences. This practice involves labelling containers before the blood collection has taken place, meaning there is a risk of associating a sample with the wrong patient. If the specimens are not matched properly to the correct patient at the time of collection, it can result in administering the wrong treatment, which could jeopardize patient safety. Proper patient identification and labelling should occur at the time of specimen collection to ensure that each sample is accurately linked to the right individual, thus ensuring patient safety and the integrity of test results.

In contrast, while issues such as misspelled names, wasted materials, and staff pressure may arise from pre-labelling, they do not present the immediate and severe risks to patient safety that result from improperly labelled blood samples.