Article Data

  • Views 1534
  • Dowloads 167

Case Report

Open Access

Laboratory utilization in the emergency department – are the requested tests patient-oriented?

  • IVANA LAPIĆ1
  • DUNJA ROGIĆ1

1Department of Laboratory Diagnostics, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

DOI: 10.22514/SV101.062015.25 Vol.10,Issue S1,June 2015 pp.81-83

Published: 22 June 2015

*Corresponding Author(s): IVANA LAPIĆ E-mail: ivana.lapic@hotmail.com

Abstract

Emergency laboratory services are essen-tial for the efficient management of criti-cally ill patients admitted to the emergency department. Characterised by their high priority of processing, analysing and re-porting, they serve as a discriminating tool in the triage of medical emergencies, rath-er than as a diagnostic tool. Optimal and adequate utilisation of laboratory testing greatly contributes to the overall quality and efficiency of laboratory services. From our experience gained through monitor-ing the ordering habits among physicians at the Emergency Medical Service of the University Hospital Centre Zagreb, non-selective overuse of laboratory tests oc-curs in practice. The most commonly used laboratory tests are often ordered together and at a negligible variation between phy-sicians, regardless of a widely varied pa-tient population. Patient-oriented labora-tory diagnostics can be achieved through limiting the availability of test ordering, an application of test panels based on relevant guidelines and protocols and upkeep of continuous close interaction between cli-nicians and laboratory experts. 

Keywords

emergency laboratory tests, lab-oratory utilization

Cite and Share

IVANA LAPIĆ,DUNJA ROGIĆ. Laboratory utilization in the emergency department – are the requested tests patient-oriented?. Signa Vitae. 2015. 10(S1);81-83.

References

1. Topić E. Medicinskobiokemijska dijagnostika hitnih stanja. In: Topić E, Primorac D, Janković S. Medicinskobiokemijska dijagnos-tika u kliničkoj praksi, Medicinska naklada, Zagreb, 2004, 242-274

2. Rogić D. Laboratorijska dijagnostika hitnih stanja – pretrage uz bolesnika – srčani biljezi. In: Sertić J et al. Klinička kemija i mole-kularna dijagnostika, Medicinska naklada, Zagreb, 2008, 21-31

3. Ivanović D. Laboratorij i hitna služba. In: Rogić D. Laboratorij i klinika - sučelje o kojem se premalo razgovara, Medicinska nak-lada, Zagreb, 2009, 15-26

4. Baird G. The laboratory test utilization management toolbox, Biochemia Medica, 2014; 24(2), 223-234

5. Miyakis S, Karamanof G, Liontis M, Mountokalakis TD. Factors contributing to inappropriate ordering of tests in an academic medical department and the effect of an educational feedback strategy, Postgrad Med J, 2006 Dec, 82(974):823-829

6. Klee GG, Westgard JO. Quality Management. In: Tietz Fundamentals of Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics, Elsevier, 2015, 90-106

7. Bunting PS, Walraven C. Effect of a controlled feedback intervention on laboratory test ordering by community physicians, Clinical Chemistry, 2004, 50:2, 321-326

8. Casagranda I et al. Proposal for the use in emergency departments of cardiac troponins measured with the latest generation meth-ods in patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome without persistent ST-segment elevation. Clinical Chemistry and Labora-tory Medicine, 2013; 51:1727-37

9. Young DS, Sachais BS, Jefferies LC. Laboratory costs in the context of disease, Clinical Chemistry, 2000, 46:7, 967-975

10. Love SA et al. Electronic medical record-based performance improvement project to document and reduce excessive cardiac tro-ponin testing, Clinical Chemistry, 2015, 61:3, 498-504

Abstracted / indexed in

Science Citation Index Expanded (SciSearch) Created as SCI in 1964, Science Citation Index Expanded now indexes over 9,200 of the world’s most impactful journals across 178 scientific disciplines. More than 53 million records and 1.18 billion cited references date back from 1900 to present.

Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition aims to evaluate a journal’s value from multiple perspectives including the journal impact factor, descriptive data about a journal’s open access content as well as contributing authors, and provide readers a transparent and publisher-neutral data & statistics information about the journal.

Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index The CAS Source Index (CASSI) Search Tool is an online resource that can quickly identify or confirm journal titles and abbreviations for publications indexed by CAS since 1907, including serial and non-serial scientific and technical publications.

Index Copernicus The Index Copernicus International (ICI) Journals database’s is an international indexation database of scientific journals. It covered international scientific journals which divided into general information, contents of individual issues, detailed bibliography (references) sections for every publication, as well as full texts of publications in the form of attached files (optional). For now, there are more than 58,000 scientific journals registered at ICI.

Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research The Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research (GFMER) is a non-profit organization established in 2002 and it works in close collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO). The overall objectives of the Foundation are to promote and develop health education and research programs.

Scopus: CiteScore 1.0 (2022) Scopus is Elsevier's abstract and citation database launched in 2004. Scopus covers nearly 36,377 titles (22,794 active titles and 13,583 Inactive titles) from approximately 11,678 publishers, of which 34,346 are peer-reviewed journals in top-level subject fields: life sciences, social sciences, physical sciences and health sciences.

Embase Embase (often styled EMBASE for Excerpta Medica dataBASE), produced by Elsevier, is a biomedical and pharmacological database of published literature designed to support information managers and pharmacovigilance in complying with the regulatory requirements of a licensed drug.

Submission Turnaround Time

Conferences

Top