Nachforderung aus der Restprobe is the request to add an analysis to a sample the laboratory already has, instead of bringing the customer back for a second collection. The situation arises constantly, because a result arrives, the customer or the physician wants one more parameter, and the material is still in the laboratory refrigerator. Asking is often quicker and easier on the customer than a repeat draw, which is exactly why it needs a moment of care before the telephone call.
Whether the laboratory can do it at all is a question of Präanalytik rather than goodwill, and three things decide it:
- Stability comes first, because each analyte has its own window, and some analytes fall outside it within hours of collection while others survive for days in the refrigerator.
- Remaining volume comes next, since the original request was calculated for the original parameters and a residual aliquot may simply be too small.
- Tube type decides the rest, because a parameter that needs a different Antikoagulans or serum where plasma was drawn cannot be produced from what is there, whatever the volume.
The akkreditiertes Labor answers all three from its own specification, so the pharmacy asks rather than assumes, and that answer decides whether a fresh sample is needed.
The part the pharmacy has to settle first is consent, which comes ahead of the logistics rather than beside them. The customer agreed to a defined list of analyses, so a further parameter is a test they did not agree to, and the fact that the material is already in the laboratory changes nothing about that. The pharmacy therefore goes back to the person, names the additional analysis, explains why it has been suggested and obtains a documented extension of the original Aufklärung und Einwilligung. That matters most where the additional analysis is more consequential than the first conversation suggested.
Cost is the second conversation and it happens at the same time. A self paying customer priced one panel, so an addition changes the invoice, which means the amount is agreed before the request goes out and noted with the consent. Only then does the request follow the normal route through the pharmacy record and the established Probenlogistik to the laboratory.
This glossary entry is general information about German pharmacy law and practice. It is not legal advice. For binding guidance on your own pharmacy, contact your Landesapothekerkammer.
