Turnaround Times for Hematology and Chemistry Tests in the Emergency Department: Experience of a Teaching Hospital in Iran

[摘要] Background:Trackingturnaroundtimes(TATs)canimprovethequalityofcareanddecreasetheeconomicburdenofpatientcare.Objectives:TheaimofthisstudywastomeasurecurrentTATsinahospitalemergencydepartment(ED)andtoanalyzethecontributionofprelaboratoryandlaboratoryphasestothetotalTAT.MaterialsandMethods:Thiscross-sectionalstudywasperformedduringNovemberandDecember2014andincludedallpatientsadmittedtotheEDandforwhomthephysicianhadorderedroutinehematologyandchemistrytests.ThetotalTATcomprisedseventimepointsandsixtimeintervals.Thestartpointwaswhenthetestwasorderedbythephysician,andtheendpointwaswhentheresultswereverifiedandreported.ThedatawereanalyzedwithSPSSsoftware(version11.5).APvalueoflessthan0.05wasconsideredstatisticallysignificant.Results:Duringthestudyperiod,timedatawereprovidedfor1400EDtests.ThemeantotalTATforalltestsrangedfrom1.3to3.1hour.Onweekdays,thelongestTAT(2.5±0.9hours)wasonSundays,andtheshortestTAT(1.9±0.7hours)wasonFridays(Plt;0.001).ThemeantotalTATforalltestswassignificantlylongerinthemorningshiftthaninthenightshift(2.8±1.2hoursvs.2.0±0.7hours,Plt;0.001).ThelaboratoryphaseaccountedforasignificantlyhigherproportionoftheTAT(57.4%)thantheprelaboratoryphase.Conclusions:ThisstudysuggeststhatthemeanTATinthisteachinghospitalislongerthanthebenchmark.Furtherresearchisneededtodeterminethecausesofdelaysanddevelopinterventionstosolvethisproblem.

[学科分类] 基础医学

[关键词] Turnaround Time;Chemistry;Hematology;Test;Emergency Department