Emergency department stat test turnaround times. A College of American Pathologists' Q-Probes study for potassium and

P J Howanitz¹, S J Steindel, G S Cembrowski

¹Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UCLA Medical Center 90024-1713.

Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine

|February 1, 1992

Abstract:

We report aggregate turnaround times (TATs) from phlebotomy to result reporting of emergency department patients' hemoglobin and potassium results for 722 subscribers to the College of American Pathologists Q-Probes program. Approximately 40,000 specimens were obtained for each analyte. Median interinstitutional TAT time of 25 minutes for hemoglobin and 36 minutes for potassium varied little by shift, weekdays, or weekends. The type of personnel collecting the specimen and the method of specimen transport were the most important factors affecting TATs. Specimen transit times accounted for approximately one third of the total TATs, but when couriers transported hemoglobin specimens, the median transit time was equivalent to the median intralaboratory test TAT. The influence of various measures used to improve test transit and TATs is presented.

Keywords:

Emergency department lab results Turnaround time analysis Clinical lab efficiency Q-Probes study

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Abstract:

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