Quality improvement project to improve blood test time to results on the acute surgical unit in North Devon District Hospital

[摘要] Blood tests are reliable predictors ofdisease severity and post-operative complications.1 2 Therefore, blood test results arecrucial to timely decision making in highacuity emergency general surgery (EGS)inpatients. EGS patients account for a largenumber of admissions, necessitating a highturnover, with a high acuity of disease witha high mortality,3 suggesting these patientsrequire priority within the hospital for bloodtest results.In North Devon District Hospital (NDDH),the authors noted as part of their clinical practice that blood test results requested for themorning phlebotomy round (ie, requestedfor 0800) of EGS inpatients were not receivedby the clinical team until the afternoon.This resulted in delayed decision making,including the need for surgery, investigationof potential postoperative complications, ordecision to discharge home with potential toadversely affect patient care.

[学科分类] 药学

[关键词] quality improvement;quality improvement methodologies;surgery;allied health occupations