Therapeutic turnaround times for common laboratory tests in a tertiary hospital in Kenya.
Journal
PloS one
ISSN: 1932-6203
Titre abrégé: PLoS One
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 101285081
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
2020
2020
Historique:
received:
31
07
2019
accepted:
10
03
2020
entrez:
9
4
2020
pubmed:
9
4
2020
medline:
7
7
2020
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
We evaluated therapeutic TAT for a tertiary hospital in Western Kenya, using a time-motion study focusing specifically on common hematology and biochemistry orders. The aim was to determine significant bottlenecks in diagnostic testing processes at the institution. A total of 356 (155 hematology and 201 biochemistry) laboratory tests were fully tracked from the time of ordering to availability of results to care providers. The total therapeutic TAT for all tests was 21.5 ± 0.249 hours (95% CI). The therapeutic TAT for hematology was 20.3 ± 0.331 hours (95% CI) while that for biochemistry tests was 22.2 ± 0.346 hours (95% CI). Printing, sorting and dispatch of the printed results emerged as the most significant bottlenecks, accounting for up to 8 hours of delay (Hematology-8.3 ± 1.29 hours (95% CI), Biochemistry-8.5 ± 1.18 hours (95% CI)). Time of test orders affected TAT, with orders made early in the morning and those in the afternoon experiencing the most delays in TAT. Significant inefficiencies exist at multiple steps in the turnaround times for routine laboratory tests at a large referral hospital within an LMIC setting. Multiple opportunities exist to improve TAT and streamline processes around diagnostic testing in this and other similar settings.
Identifiants
pubmed: 32267844
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0230858
pii: PONE-D-19-21599
pmc: PMC7141613
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
e0230858Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
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