engleski

Improvements in the admission of outpatients at the Department of Laboratory Diagnostics, University Hospital Center Zagreb

Background: On average, about 200 outpatients are admitted daily at the Department of Laboratory Diagnostics (DOLD), University Hospital Center Zagreb. Relocation of the Clinical Unit for Patient Admission and Management to new premises has entailed reorganization of outpatient admission and sampling of biological material. HAVIS, an audio-visual system for calling out patients has been integrated with the currently used hospital (HIS) and laboratory information system (LIS), while blood sampling test-tubes are barcode labelled in advance. Materials and methods: Upon arrival to laboratory reception desk, patients present the referral for laboratory tests and are given a number generated by the HAVIS system. A copy of the number is enclosed with the referral, and basic patient data and laboratory tests are entered into HIS. All test requests are transferred to LIS using the HL7 communication protocol. Phlebotomy is performed in five separate rooms in order to ensure patient privacy. A computer is in each of the rooms, with all three applications (HIS, LIS and HAVIS). A patient is referred to the room for venipunction through the HAVIS system, i.e. digital voice and visual information on a display in the laboratory waiting room. After checking patient’s identity, laboratory staff performs blood sampling. Information on laboratory tests for a selected patient is displayed on computer screen at the LIS interface entitled: “Entered requests”, and data on a number and type of previously labelled test- tubes are added. After sampling, samples are transported in closed containers to the worksite. Results: In the first half of year 2012, 22, 926 outpatients were managed at DOLD. Average time from presentation of referral to patient’s entry into phlebotomy room was 0:35:18 minutes (min: 0:14:14, max: 0:58:33), depending on the type and complexity of referral. Application of test-tubes labelled in advance reduced patient management time and ensured privacy (patient’s name and surname are not written on the test-tube). Also, expansion of the existing LIS with a module that, depending on the number of requested tests, determines the minimum number of necessary blood test-tubes, helped reduce the number of unnecessarily sampled test-tubes. Conclusion: Better work organization and implementation of information systems improved the entire process of laboratory management of outpatients and thus contributed to increased quality of patient health care.

audio-visual system for calling; test-tubes labelled in advance

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