Turnaround times and modes of reporting critical results in Asian laboratories

Abstract

Background Reporting critical results in a timely manner is a crucial role of clinical laboratories. Traditionally, these results were reported using the phone or fax system. However, there are now other modes of communication for this reporting. Quality improvement in any organization is driven by detection of errors and benchmarking against peers. In the case of critical result reporting, there are few current widely used Benchmarking schemes. Methods The Roche Clinical Chemistry Benchmarking Survey in 2019 added questions about critical result reporting including the mode of communication and turnaround time key performance index. This survey includes over 1100 laboratories from 20 countries. Results The survey revealed a range of communication strategies with phone calls still the commonest followed by email. The key performance index for most laboratories was less than 10 min. Conclusion Benchmarking can provide key information for quality improvement activities, particularly pre- and postanalytical.