The Impact of Accurate and Timely Laboratory Results on Physician Decision

Abstract

Accuracy and timeliness are keys to laboratory results having an impact on physician decision-making  When these two requirements are satisfied, laboratory results can be turned into actionable information at the care team’s fingertips for running daily operations. However, in modern hospitals and laboratories, the lab-dwelling time in the cycle of laboratory testing – test ordering, specimen drawing, specimen transporting, specimen analysis, results generating, results transmitting, results archiving, results finding, results viewing, laboratory interpretation, laboratory advice, subsequent action after laboratory result viewing, and clinical outcome – by clinicians takes an average time of 35 hours in the best case. After acknowledging a lab result, frontline staff must carry it from one station to another to realize downstream tasks and actions. In the process, they risk misplacing, forgetting, or misinterpreting the lab result. These types of error are likely to magnify as more handovers are involved. This multi-station coordination for laboratory tasks is known as manual tracking of laboratory results. Despite being both time- and cognition-intensive, it remains prevalent in various global care settings, as it doesn’t require extra technology other than stationery to perform; it remains a default option for fulfilling the need to manage laboratory results in many care practices. However, it has been found that automation of handling of laboratory results has the capacity to speed up the realization of downstream actions after acknowledging a lab result, significantly reduce the occurrences of errors in managing laboratory results, and significantly enhance the care team’s tasks and responses post laboratory result view and, thus, takes a great advantage in harvesting the potential use of laboratory results in boosting health service provision.