Requisition Errors for Blood Glucose Tests: A Hospital-Based Study
Posted 10/26/2007
Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common disorder affecting individuals of all ages. Blood glucose determination at the hospital is still a useful test for following up on DM; however, errors in laboratory test requests by the general practitioner can occur.
Methods: This study is a retrospective analysis on laboratory test requisition data for fasting blood glucose tests and random blood glucose tests in an ISO 15189-certified medical laboratory.
Results: According to the period studied, there were a total of 71,631 requests for blood glucose determination (71,095 for fasting blood glucose and 536 for random blood glucose). There were 59 overlapping tests (0.08%). The calculated financial loss was approximately $131 USD(4,720 baht).
Conclusion: This study demonstrates that patients incurred a financial loss due to incorrect test requisitions from their physicians in charge. Interestingly, all of the errors were generated from the outpatient clinic, which was the corresponding primary care facility for DM patients. The results imply that such errors occur more easily in an outpatient clinic, where a large number of number of requests occur. Finally, this study recommends the implementation of a protocol in laboratories for continuous monitoring of preanalytical errors for all laboratory tests. Furthermore, better communication with primary care physicians is required to educate them on the importance of correct test requisitions.
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