A Study on the Frequency and Types of Laboratory Errors in a Tertiary Care Cardiology Laboratory

Résumé

Background

Particularly in critical care settings like cardiology, where precise and prompt results are crucial, laboratory errors can have a substantial impact on patient diagnosis, treatment choices, and general safety.

Objective

The objective of the study was to thoroughly analyse error occurrence rates throughout the entire process of testing, with regard to the pre-analytical, analytical, and post-analytical stages.

Methods

Over the course of three months, from July to September 2019, a prospective analysis of laboratory errors was conducted at the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC), a 272-bed tertiary care facility serving the Punjab province and parts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). During this time, the clinical pathology laboratory at the RIC received samples and request forms from nurses, physicians, and medical assistants from various hospital wards. A total of 17,917 patients underwent 73,540 tests.

Results

The laboratories' total test procedure (TTP) had an overall error rate of 1.43%. It's interesting to note that pre-analytical errors made up the largest percentage (0.82%), followed by post-analytical (0.51%) and analytical (0.10%) errors. To determine the prevalence and scope of various errors, the data was carefully examined, and the findings were presented using figures and tables. The distribution pattern indicates that general mistake rates have significantly decreased during the last ten years. Even with this advancement, the pre- and post-analytical processes still had the highest rate of mistake.

Conclusion

The findings show that in order to improve patient safety and quality, it is necessary to create systematic protocols and keep ongoing vigilance to guarantee the correctness and dependability of the test processes performed in the laboratories.