Why is turn around time important in a hospital laboratory?

Question

Why is turn around time important in a hospital laboratory?

Answer 1

Agreed, the answers from those tests guide treatment.  Unfortunately, many tests cannot even be performed at the hospital (viral tests, certain drug levels, etc) and by sending the tests to an outside lab, times increase dramatically.

I am a transplant coordinator and with the critical nature of my patients, we need very quick lab turnarounds.  Generally, any lab coming from an ICU is run STAT, meaning it goes ahead of less important tests from other units.

It is not a matter of "lazy" lab staff, most of the lab techs I've ever dealt with take their jobs more seriously than almost any other area of medicine.  They are anal retentive by nature and are closely regulated to ensure they are performing tests correctly.  If they rush the tests and fail to follow their procedures, the results will not be accurate and the patient will suffer accordingly.

Answer 2

Because when we order labs, we want answers!  Many times, treatment decisions are based in part on laboratory data, and we need that information to guide our medial decisions.

Answer 3

Most of the answers to the problem are in those lab reports. The faster the lab gets them back to the doctor the faster they can treat the problem. When the lab backs up for lack of personnal, or just plain laziness, people can and do die.

Answer 4

The only time it is truly critical is if a life-saving intervention is waiting on the results.  And there are a lot of lab tests that are important for treatment and diagnosis, but not time-critical.

Usually the lab result just backs up the doc's diagnosis.

And if the flipping interns would learn the normal turn around times, they would stop ordering STAT VMA tests on urine!

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Adding to Christopher: thanks.  Our problem is that everyone's emergency lab tests all end up in one spot - the lab ... and it doesn't take too many docs, each with a critical and unstable patient, to disrupt the work flow enough that the turn-around time goes to h**l in a handbasket.