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Therapeutic turnaround times for common laboratory tests in a tertiary hospital in Kenya.

ABSTRACT: METHODS:We evaluated therapeutic TAT for a tertiary hospital in Western Kenya, using a time-motion study focusing specifically on common hematology and biochemistry orders. The aim was to determine significant bottlenecks in diagnostic testing processes at the institution. RESULTS:A total of 356 (155 hematology and 201 biochemistry) laboratory tests were fully tracked from the time of ordering to availability of results to care providers. The total therapeutic TAT for all tests was 21.5 ± 0.249 hours (95% CI). The therapeutic TAT for hematology was 20.3 ± 0.331 hours (95% CI) while that for biochemistry tests was 22.2 ± 0.346 hours (95% CI). Printing, sorting and dispatch of the printed results emerged as the most significant bottlenecks, accounting for up to 8 hours of delay (Hematology-8.3 ± 1.29 hours (95% CI), Biochemistry-8.5 ± 1.18 hours (95% CI)). Time of test orders affected TAT, with orders made early in the morning and those in the afternoon experiencing the most delays in TAT. CONCLUSION:Significant inefficiencies exist at multiple steps in the turnaround times for routine laboratory tests at a large referral hospital within an LMIC setting. Multiple opportunities exist to improve TAT and streamline processes around diagnostic testing in this and other similar settings.

SUBMITTER: Mwogi T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7141613 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Therapeutic turnaround times for common laboratory tests in a tertiary hospital in Kenya.

Mwogi Thomas T Mercer Tim T Tran Dan N Tina DNT Tonui Ronald R Tylleskar Thorkild T Were Martin C MC

PloS one 20200408 4

<h4>Methods</h4>We evaluated therapeutic TAT for a tertiary hospital in Western Kenya, using a time-motion study focusing specifically on common hematology and biochemistry orders. The aim was to determine significant bottlenecks in diagnostic testing processes at the institution.<h4>Results</h4>A total of 356 (155 hematology and 201 biochemistry) laboratory tests were fully tracked from the time of ordering to availability of results to care providers. The total therapeutic TAT for all tests wa ...[more]

PMID: 32267844

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Project description:IntroductionInjury accounts for more than 5.8 million deaths globally with an increasing burden in the developing world. In Kenya, trauma is one of the top 10 leading causes of death. However, no formal continuous injury surveillance systems are in place to inform injury prevention, pre-hospital care or emergency department management. The aim of this study was to implement a hospital-based trauma registry to characterize high acuity injuries presenting to a private tertiary, teaching and referral hospital in Kenya.MethodsFrom January to December 2015, data was prospectively collected at a private tertiary, teaching and referral hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. Patients presenting with a traumatic injury for the first time who were admitted to the hospital for at least 48 hours were included in the study. Basic information pertaining to demographics, details of the injury, pre-hospital care and transport, hospital-based management, length of stay and disposition were collected. An injury severity score (ISS) was calculated on each patient and stratified by the mechanism of injury. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression were used to analyze data and assess risk factors associated with injury severity.ResultsThere were 101 patients included in the study, the majority of whom were 30 to 39 years of age and male (63%). Seventy-one per cent of patients had a preexisting medical condition with hypertension (26%) and diabetes (13%) being the most common. The most common mechanism of injury was fall (46%) followed by road traffic incidents (RTI) (32%). Most injuries took place at home (43%). Most RTI were caused by cars (63%), with the driver being the most frequently injured (38%). The most common mode of arrival to the emergency department was by private car (72%). The median time between the accident and arrival at the emergency department was 1hr 10 minutes. The majority of the patients had injuries to one area (83%) with the extremities/bony pelvis (72%) being the most common. The median Injury Severity Score was 5 (range 1-34) with the majority (90%) classified as minor injuries (ISS<12). The highest severity of injury as determined by ISS was seen in gunshot wounds.ConclusionsInjured patients in Kenya showed concordance with prior studies looking at injury prevalence in the developing world when looking at demographics and place of injury. However, differences were found when looking at the mechanism of injury, with falls surpassing road traffic incidents. A delayed presentation to the hospital was also noted in this patient population. Given the rate of traumatic injuries in Kenya and their contribution to morbidity, mortality and overall healthcare costs, there is a need to implement formal trauma registries in all major hospitals in Kenya to generate more data that can be used to improve injury prevention, the overall trauma system and enhance training and preparedness.

Project description:Introduction. Clinical microbiology laboratories have had to cope with an increase in the volume of tests due to the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Short turnaround times (TATs) are important for case tracing and to help clinicians in patient management. In such a context, high-throughput systems are essential to process the bulk of the tests. Rapid tests are also required to ensure shorter TATs for urgent situations. In our laboratory, SARS-CoV-2 assays were initially implemented on our custom platform using a previously published method. The commercial cobas 6800 (Roche diagnostics) assay and the GeneXpert Xpress (Cepheid) SARS-CoV-2 assay were implemented on 24 March and 8 April 2020, respectively, as soon as available.Hypothesis/Gap Statement. Despite the abundant literature on SARS-CoV-2 assays, the articles focus mainly on the diagnostic performances. This is to our knowledge the first article that specifically studies the TAT of different assays.Aim. We aimed to describe the impact of various SARS-CoV-2 assays on the TAT at the beginning of the outbreak.Methodology. In this study, we retrospectively analysed the TAT of all SARS-CoV-2 assays performed in our centre between 24 February and 9 June, 2020.Results. We retrieved 33 900 analyses, with a median TAT of 6.25 h. TATs were highest (6.9 h) when only our custom platform was used (24 February to 24 March, 2020). They were reduced to 6.1 h when the cobas system was introduced (24 March to 8 April, 2020). The implementation of the GeneXpert further reduced the median TAT to 4.8 h (8 April to 9 June, 2020). The GeneXpert system had the shortest median TAT (1.9 h), followed by the cobas (5.5 h) and by our custom platform (6.9 h).Conclusion. This work shows that the combination of high-throughput systems and rapid tests allows the efficient processing of a large number of tests with a short TAT. In addition, the use of a custom platform allowed the quick implementation of an in-house test when commercial assays were not yet available.

Project description:BackgroundThe early beginning of an adequate antibiotic therapy is crucial in hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP), but depends on the results of conventional microbiological diagnostics (cMD). It was the aim of this study to evaluate the performance and turnaround times of a new point-of-care multiplex polymerase chain reaction (mPCR) system for rapid identification of pathogens and antibiotic resistance markers. We assessed the applicability of the system under real-life conditions in critical ill patients with HAP.MethodsWe enrolled forty critical ill patients with clinical signs for HAP into an observational study. Two samples of respiratory secretions were collected during one course of aspiration and cMD and mPCR testing (Unyvero, Curetis AG, Holzgerlingen, Germany) were performed immediately. The mPCR device was operated as a point-of-care system at the intensive care unit. We compared turnaround times, results of pathogen identification and results of antibiotic resistance testing of both methods.ResultsMean turnaround times (min-max) were 6.5 h (4.7-18.3 h) for multiplex PCR and 71 h (37.2-217.8 h) for conventional microbiology (final cMD results, incomplete results neglected). 60% (n = 24) of the mPCR tests were completely valid. Complete test failure occurred in 10% (n = 4) and partial test failure occurred in 30% (n = 12). We found concordant results in 45% (n = 18) and non-concordant results in 45% (n = 18) of all patients. 55% (n = 16) of the results were concordant in patients with a clinical pulmonary infection score (CPIS) > 5 (n = 29). Concordant results included three cases of multidrug resistant bacteria. MPCR frequently detected antibiotic resistance markers that were not found by cMD.ConclusionsUnyvero allowed point-of-care microbial testing with short turnaround times. The performance of the system was poor. However, an improved system with a more reliable performance and an extended microbial panel could be a useful addition to cMD in intensive care medicine.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT01858974 (registered 16 May 2013).

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Therapeutic turnaround times for common laboratory tests in a tertiary hospital in Kenya.

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Therapeutic turnaround times for common laboratory tests in a tertiary hospital in Kenya.

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