The bleeding time: current practice in the UK.

A questionnaire survey of current practice in the bleeding time test has been undertaken by the UK External Quality Assessment Scheme in blood coagulation. Completed returns have been received from 358 centres. Most centres (88.5%) perform bleeding times and of these the Ivy test is the most commonly performed. Only 13.6% perform the Duke method. Templates are used to control the procedure by approximately half of the hospitals. There is considerable variability in the type and depth of incision and interpretation of the endpoint. The upper limit of normality not unexpectedly differs considerably between the centres with both Ivy and Duke methods. The use of a commercial template method, 'Simplate', provides a measure of agreement amongst the group of hospitals using this instrument but it remains to be established whether this is the most reliable procedure. In the interim, gross discrepancies in technique or interpretation should be corrected in the light of the findings of the survey.