Policy change to improve pathology turnaround time and reduce costs – possible to do both?

摘要

Background:Overcrowding and prolonged length of stay in emergency departments (ED) are increasing problems in hospitals. Rapid availability of all laboratory results has an impact on clinical decision-making, admissions or discharge decisions and resource utilisation. Increasing number of our urinary drugs of abuse (DOA) screens had a turnaround time (TAT) of up to 33 days after the discharge of the patient.