Assessment of Laboratory Turnaround Time and Associated Factors for Complete Blood Count and Clinical Chemistry Testes in Emergency and Trauma Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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Date
2022-11
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Background: Laboratory tests are an important contributor to treatment decisions in theemergency department. Reporting in acceptable turnaround time (TAT) is a crucial indicator ofquality. International standards recommend the laboratory to establish TATs for each of its testsand periodically evaluate whether or not it is meeting the established TAT. However, AddisAbaba Burn, Emergency and Trauma (AaBET) hospital is the first dedicated Emergency andTrauma hospital in Ethiopia, the laboratory‟s TAT was not determined and assessed.
Objective: To determine laboratory turnaround time and associated factors for complete bloodcount and clinical chemistry tests at Addis Ababa Burn, Emergency and Trauma hospital.
Method: A prospective cross sectional study was conducted from January to April, 2022. Allemergency patient samples that had at list CBC, and/or Chemistry requests and received at thelaboratory specimen accessioning room were taken consecutively. Using a structured datacollection tool all related information were collected and entered to SPSS version 23 thencalculation of major statistics for the time data (in minutes), bivariate and multivariateregression analysis were conducted to assess the relationship between high TAT and thesuggested responsible factors. For all statistical tests, P < 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: specimen receipt to verification time data were obtained for 4132 tests. Of which,2309, (55.9%) of them were CBC and 1823, (44.1%) were chemistry) tests. The determined 90thpercentile (average) completion time for CBC and chemistry were 105 (53.9) and 457 (257.4)minutes, respectively. More than 28% of the tests did not achieve TAT goals i.e. 60 min forCBC and 240min for chemistry test. Specimen received in; Sundays, night shifts, sample porternot presented, and machine related problems encountered working periods were identified tohave significant contribution for delayed TATs.
Conclusion and recommendations: During this initial evaluation, we observed that AaBEThospitals‟ laboratory test TAT were longer and doesn‟t comply with the available benchmarks.Improvement in personnel and equipment management may provide effective ways to minimizetest result delays in Emergency and Trauma hospital.
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Laboratory turnaround time Complete Blood Count Clinical chemistry Emergency and Trauma hospital