[Problems in the extra-analytical phase of a laboratory process in the health care facilities of Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad region].

: A sociological survey of 240 clinical laboratory workers and 350 patients could reveal the most important problems in the extra-analytical phase of a laboratory process: the level of computerization of laboratories; the application of a closed vacuum blood sampling system; a need for improving the interaction between laboratory service specialists and clinicians; the necessity for laboratory diagnosis specialists to hold lectures and seminars for clinicians; inadequate interaction between patients and attending physicians; a patient's failure to follow the study preparation instructions; a patient's dissatisfaction with a process of drawing up a referral protocol for laboratory studies; and a queue for biomaterial sampled for laboratory studies.