Delays in reporting critical values from clinical laboratories to responsible healthcare staff

Abstract

AbstractObjective:We aimed to investigate the frequency of delayed notifications and probable causes of delays for critical value notification in clinical laboratory of university hospital.Materials and methods:All data was obtained from critical value reporting forms and laboratory information system. The frequency and location of critical and delayed results, latencies throughout a working day and the professional status who received the critical callbacks were shown as percentages.Results:A total of 2018 (1.02%) critical values were reported and 13.1% of them were delayed notifications. Most of them were observed in laboratory tests ordered from patients of service and polyclinics compared to ICU and emergency department (26.7%, 26%, 6.2% and 4.9%, respectively, p<0.01). Delayed notifications were significantly higher for biochemical parameters (19.7%, p<0.001) and observed particularly in morning hours (06:00 a.m.–10:00 a.m.), lunch break time (12:00–14:00) and end of the working day (16:00–18:00). Latencies of mild-delayed reporting were 18.5±4.4 min for 62.8% and advanced-delayed reporting were 47.1±11.3 min for 37.2% of total delayed notifications. Most of the critical results were reported to the health care staff other than physician (55.6%).Conclusion:Laboratory professionals should work in collaboration with responsible clinician and healthcare staff in critical value reporting process.