Evaluation and improvement strategy of analytical turnaround time in the stat laboratory

Laboratory analytical turnaround time represents laboratory effectiveness. Our study aimed to evaluate laboratory analytical turnaround time to optimize workflow and shorten analytical turnaround time.

We used the laboratory information system in a 2000-bed teaching hospital to compute and analyze the 90th percentile turnaround time of the Stat Laboratory from 2001 to 2003.

The overall 90th percentile turnaround time in the Stat Laboratory was 40-49 minutes and positively correlated with test volume. The daily test volume in the Stat Laboratory has grown significantly in the latter 2 half-years of the study as compared with the previous 2 half-years (p < 0.05 and p < 0.001, respectively). The daily longest turnaround time occurred in the early morning, and troponin-I testing contributed to the majority of incidences of prolongation of analytical turnaround time. We prioritized the performance of troponin-I testing, which resulted in a reduction of the analytical turnaround time by about 18 minutes (from 66 to 48 minutes) and no increment of overall turnaround time (42 to 44 minutes) despite continuously increasing test volume.

These findings demonstrated that a dedicated means of process control was able to significantly improve laboratory efficiency.