To avoid mistakes like misplaced, forgotten, or mislabeled lab specimens, Kris Sittig-Barnard, office manager at Century Animal Clinic in Maplewood, Minn., put red, plastic drinking cups in each exam room. "Before we started using the cups, doctors would usually leave blood samples in the exam rooms for the technicians to pick up," she says. "We had a couple times when the samples were overlooked and left overnight in the exam rooms. There was also the problem of scattered work orders and vials when the samples were dropped off at the lab." But not anymore.

Now, when doctors take a blood sample, they simply place the tube and the paperwork in the red cup. "By doing this, it makes the lab area neater and the technicians' jobs a little easier," she says.