Monitoring of Turnaround time (TAT) in Biochemistry Laboratory of a tertiary care hospital in Punjab

Turnaround time (TAT) is commonly defined as the time from when a test is ordered until the result is reported which includes the preanalytical, analytical and post-analytical time. Increased attention to patient’s needs is demonstrated by efforts to improve the quality of the entire service provided, e. g reduction of laboratory turnaround time (TAT). The availability of the results from a laboratory in defined time increases the patient’s satisfaction and also proves the clinician’s efficiency. A total of 300 samples were taken for analysis of TAT, out of which 150 were from outdoor patients and 150 from indoor patients. The contribution of the analytical time to the total turnaround time was found to be less than the contribution of pre and post-analytical time in both OPD and IPD patients. In addition, 38 samples (25.3%) in OPD and 37 samples (24.7%) in IPD were reported outside the defined TAT. The various reasons responsible for more time consumed in pre and post-analytical phases as compared with the analytical phase are time taken to transport the samples from phlebotomy area to the laboratory which increases pre-analytical time and the manual delivery of reports which increases post-analytical time. So, by streamlining the pre and post-analytical processes, the TAT of the lab can be reduced.