The Department of Laboratory Medicine at CGMH Tucheng is committed to specific SLAs to deliver test results to departments treating both inpatients and outpatients in a highly dynamic city hospital environment.
The laboratory at CGMH Tucheng operates according to strict guidelines on quality controls and turnaround times: in a constant effort to optimize laboratory performance, the Lab Director endeavoured to monitor and improve performance on test delivery for urgent outpatient samples as a first step toward optimal operational efficiency.
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Lab Director Mr. Lin and his team accessed relevant lab workflow data on Analytics to establish a baseline of their current performance on STAT (urgent) outpatient samples for which acceptable turnaround time (TAT) is set by CGMH Quality Committee at a maximum of 60 minutes. The lab was shown to produce the required results in 55 minutes (avg.).
Analyses performed on Analytics showed that transportation time took up a large portion of the overall diagnostic workflow: in a typical month, the process of transferring samples from the phlebotomy station to the pre-analytical platforms in the lab was executed in 18 minutes (avg.), amounting to 38% of the total TAT. Using these data, the lab identified a bottleneck on the automated transmission system and intervened to reduce the delay in sample delivery. As a result, data analysis run on the month following the workflow change showed a 28% decrease in transportation time, with an optimized transportation flow completed in 13 minutes (avg.).*
In parallel, analytical performance was evaluated through the examination of multiple parameters that might affect TAT such as rerun rates, instrument utilization levels, autovalidation and workflow setup. Recurrent delays were identified in relation to individual samples sharing common patterns: whenever tests such as LDH, Cortisol and CO2 were requested on urgent samples, overall TAT was over 60 minutes. Examining samples’ lifecycles using Analytics highlighted an under-optimal workflow setup. Re-engineering the testing prioritization on analyzers to streamline the workflow determined a substantial decrease in the analytical TAT: LDH’s average TAT dropped from 67 minutes to 13 minutes, equal to an 80% decrease, with a subsequent impact on samples’ overall TAT performance.*
Analysis of data processed through Analytics allowed the lab to identify inefficiencies at the sample collection and sample transportation stages. The evidence collected motivated the hospital phlebotomy department to integrate changes in tube collection and transportation workflows that led to a 28% decrease in the pre-analytical TAT for all serum samples.
“We re-engineered our lab workflow based on insights from Analytics, with a novel data-driven approach. Our pre-analytical TAT improved by 28%*”
Mr Lin, Lab Director
The lab being highly efficient, the main initiative was directed at improving the TAT of STAT samples collected from the Outpatient Department. Reengineering pre-analytical and analytical processes based on the data reviewed on Analytics allowed the lab to reduce analytical STAT TAT of specific tests by up to 80%.
Before: August 2022
After: October 2022
Before: August 2022
After: October 2022
“ Analytics helped us to identify the root causes of our TAT delays. The countermeasures we introduced allowed us to cut analytical outliers on specific assays by 80%.”
Mr Lin, Lab Director
The granularity of data available in Analytics for Core Lab has allowed the Department of Laboratory Medicine at CGMH Tucheng to begin data-driven, operational workflow optimization efforts which have resulted in measurable performance improvements.
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Analytics for Core Lab: LACE Laboratories
