Medical errors can be the reason of approximately 50 000–100 000 preventable patients deaths per year in USA hospitals Extra-analytical errors in laboratory medicine are very frequented kind of such medical errors. Numbers of pre-analytical and post-analytical errors strongly dominate over analytical errors. Despite this fact analytical measurements are intensively controlled by using the internal quality control and external quality assessment programme however pre-analytical and post-analytical errors are monitored only seldom. This communication deals with frequency and classification of extra analytical errors and by quality indicators for their assessment and preventions. Communication informs on the recent literature resources connected to problems of extra analytical errors and mistakes. Main aim of this publication is to introduce for beginning the control of extra-analytical phases in medical laboratories of our country.

        Key words: pre-analytical errors, post-analytical errors, quality indicators, Q-probes, interpretation.