TY - GEN
T1 - Pending laboratory test results at the time of discharge
T2 - 26th Australian National Health Informatics Conference (HIC 2018)
AU - Wabe, Nasir
AU - Li, Ling
AU - Sezgin, Gorkem
AU - Dahm, Maria
AU - Vecellio, Elia
AU - Lindeman, Robert
AU - Westbrook, Johanna
AU - Georgiou, Andrew
N1 - Copyright the Author(s) and IOS Press 2018. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Pending laboratory test results at discharge can have major adverse health outcomes. The availability of test results at discharge may depend on whether the tests were ordered electronically or by using a paper-based system. The aim of this study was to determine the rate of pending test results at time of discharge from Emergency Departments (ED), and compare the rate for paper-based and electronic orders across three EDs in New South Wales, Australia. This retrospective study described 71,466 ED presentations with 357,476 laboratory tests across three years (2014–2016). Only patients who were treated in ED and eventually discharged from ED were included. Most tests were ordered using the electronic system (97.2%, n=347,469). The rate of pending test results was significantly lower for electronic orders (6.6%, n=22,928) than for paper orders (9.7%, n=966): a difference of 3.1%. Similar differences were observed when analysis was done by year of ED presentation. Moreover, in a subgroup analysis that included the top five high volume tests, four of the five tests had significantly lower rates of pending test results for electronic orders than for paper-based orders. The study highlighted an important benefit of ordering tests via electronic system which can potentially improve patient outcomes.
AB - Pending laboratory test results at discharge can have major adverse health outcomes. The availability of test results at discharge may depend on whether the tests were ordered electronically or by using a paper-based system. The aim of this study was to determine the rate of pending test results at time of discharge from Emergency Departments (ED), and compare the rate for paper-based and electronic orders across three EDs in New South Wales, Australia. This retrospective study described 71,466 ED presentations with 357,476 laboratory tests across three years (2014–2016). Only patients who were treated in ED and eventually discharged from ED were included. Most tests were ordered using the electronic system (97.2%, n=347,469). The rate of pending test results was significantly lower for electronic orders (6.6%, n=22,928) than for paper orders (9.7%, n=966): a difference of 3.1%. Similar differences were observed when analysis was done by year of ED presentation. Moreover, in a subgroup analysis that included the top five high volume tests, four of the five tests had significantly lower rates of pending test results for electronic orders than for paper-based orders. The study highlighted an important benefit of ordering tests via electronic system which can potentially improve patient outcomes.
KW - pending test results
KW - emergency department
KW - order type
KW - electronic ordering
KW - paper order
KW - Pending test results
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85056435263&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3233/978-1-61499-890-7-164
DO - 10.3233/978-1-61499-890-7-164
M3 - Conference proceeding contribution
C2 - 30040700
SN - 9781614998891
T3 - Studies in health technology and informatics
SP - 164
EP - 169
BT - Connecting the System to Enhance the Practitioner and Consumer Experience in Healthcare
A2 - Cummings, Elizabeth
A2 - Ryan, Angela
A2 - Schaper, Louise K.
PB - IOS Press
CY - Amsterdam
Y2 - 29 July 2018 through 1 August 2018
ER -