The tubing that brings the lyse reagent to the hemoglobin cuvette on an automated cell counter is pinched and not delivering any reagent. All hemoglobin values are greater than 20 g/dL. This represents what type of error?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The fact that all hemoglobin values are greater than 20 g/dL indicates a constant systematic error, which means there is a consistent problem affecting all measurements in the same way. The pinched tubing is likely causing a lack of lyse reagent, resulting in incomplete lysis and falsely high hemoglobin values. Random error would result in a scatter of values with no consistent pattern, imprecision would result in inconsistent or inaccurate measurements without a clear pattern, and proportional systematic error would result in a consistent bias in the same direction for all values.

The Tubing That Brings the Lyse Reagent to the Hemoglobin