Improving the quality of information on pathology request forms.

BACKGROUND

We have investigated the causes of incomplete pathology request forms received at our clinical chemistry laboratory. Based on a request form audit we found that the data most frequently missing from a pathology request form was the doctor's name, unique identification provider number, or signature.

METHODS

We examined the effect of issuing the requesting doctors with self-inking stamps personalized with their name and a unique provider number.

RESULTS

The intervention led to an immediate and sustained improvement in compliance, with the proportion of incomplete forms falling from 43% to 2%. In contrast, distribution of a memorandum alone made no significant change to the number of pathology request forms with incomplete data arriving at the laboratory.

CONCLUSION

This study describes a simple and low-cost solution to one of the causes of incomplete pathology request forms. It also demonstrates the effectiveness of systems improvement in health care.