title: A novel approach to managing hemolyzed specimens.
abstract: Hemolyzed specimens continue to cost the laboratory time and money. However, the core laboratory at Georgia Regents Health System, Inc. has instituted a novel approach to managing this problem. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the laboratory's new approach had a significant impact on the turn-around time (TAT) and cost of processing hemolyzed and non-hemolyzed specimens in the laboratory. The investigators queried the laboratory information systems for hemolyzed and non-hemolyzed specimens categorized as routine or STAT from the core laboratory and calculated statistical differences between the groups with respect to TAT and cost.The investigators found a statistically significant difference in the time it takes to process STAT hemolyzed specimens versus non-hemolyzed specimens with the new approach. Because of the new approach, hemolyzed specimens were actually processed as fast as, or faster than non-hemolyzed specimens in the core laboratory.
authors: Department of Medical Laboratory, Imaging and Radiologic Sciences, College of Allied Health Sciences, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA. lpretlow@gru.edu
authors: Lester
authors: L
authors: Pretlow
authors: Shamala
authors: S
authors: Johnson
authors: Barbara
authors: B
authors: Russell
authors: Bridget
authors: B
authors: Evans
mesh_terms: D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000379:methods*; D002984:Clinical Laboratory Information Systems / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006461:Hemolysis; D006801:Humans; D007753:Laboratories