Turnaround Times for Hematology and Chemistry Tests in the Emergency Department: Experience of a Teaching Hospital in Iran

Tracking turnaround times (TATs) can improve the quality of care and decrease the economic burden of patient care..
The aim of this study was to measure current TATs in a hospital emergency department (ED) and to analyze the contribution of prelaboratory and laboratory phases to the total TAT..
This cross-sectional study was performed during November and December 2014 and included all patients admitted to the ED and for whom the physician had ordered routine hematology and chemistry tests. The total TAT comprised seven time points and six time intervals. The start point was when the test was ordered by the physician, and the end point was when the results were verified and reported. The data were analyzed with SPSS software (version 11.5). A P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant..
During the study period, time data were provided for 1400 ED tests. The mean total TAT for all tests ranged from 1.3 to 3.1 hour. On weekdays, the longest TAT (2.5 ± 0.9 hours) was on Sundays, and the shortest TAT (1.9 ± 0.7 hours) was on Fridays (P This study suggests that the mean TAT in this teaching hospital is longer than the benchmark. Further research is needed to determine the causes of delays and develop interventions to solve this problem..