Atanda Akinfenwa Taoheed, Yusuf Ibrahim, Haruna Muhammad Sanusi
Department of Pathology, Bayero University/Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, Nigeria.
Department of Morbid Anatomy and Forensic Medicine, Usmanu Danfodiyo University/Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, Nigeria.
Niger J Surg. 2017 Jul-Dec;23(2):98-101. doi: 10.4103/njs.NJS_4_17.
This study aims to audit analytic turnaround time (TAT) in a histopathology laboratory with a view to assessing the timeliness of its reports, identify causes of delay in its TAT, and compare this with client perception of its performance.
Records of 1440 batches of specimens processed over a 5-year period in the histopathology laboratory of a teaching hospital were retrieved from archives. From these, median and mean TATs were calculated and causes of delay identified. Questionnaires were also deployed to assess physicians' perception of the laboratory's performance.
Analytic TAT was 3.6 ± 2 days, with 86.7% of reports being ready within 5 working days. The delays in timeliness of report generation were due mainly to residency training-related factors; tissue processing-related factors, and inadequate clinical information among others. Client perception of TAT rated the laboratory below average by 18.4%; average by 57.5%; good by 20.7%, and excellent in its performance by 3.4% of respondents.
Even though physicians perceived the laboratory's TAT to be just average, its analytic TAT for reports is within acceptable international standards but with room for improvement in its performance.
本研究旨在审核一家组织病理学实验室的分析周转时间（TAT），以评估其报告的及时性，确定其TAT延迟的原因，并将其与客户对其表现的看法进行比较。
从档案中检索了一家教学医院组织病理学实验室在5年期间处理的1440批标本的记录。据此计算了中位数和平均TAT，并确定了延迟原因。还发放了问卷以评估医生对实验室表现的看法。
分析TAT为3.6±2天，86.7%的报告在5个工作日内完成。报告生成及时性的延迟主要归因于住院医师培训相关因素、组织处理相关因素以及临床信息不足等。客户对TAT的看法中，18.4%的受访者认为该实验室表现低于平均水平；57.5%认为平均；20.7%认为良好；3.4%认为表现出色。
尽管医生认为该实验室的TAT只是一般，但其实验室报告的分析TAT符合可接受的国际标准，不过其表现仍有改进空间。
