Variation in the transcription of laboratory data in an intensive care unit

Manual transcription of numerical data is prone to error. We quantified the transcription error rate for blood results recorded in a critical care setting by comparing the handwritten and printed laboratory results in 100 consecutive patients in the intensive care unit, Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Nine hundred and fifty-four sets of results with 4664 individual values were analysed. There was complete and accurate transcription in 67.6% (n = 645) of cases, a failure to transcribe in 23.6% (n = 225) and inaccurate transcription in 8.8% (n = 84). Transcription was significantly more accurate in the morning (p = 0.02). This study highlights that our current system of recording blood results is unreliable. These results strengthen the case for computerisation of the patient record in terms of data retrieval and transcription accuracy.