• J C Dale, S J Steindel, and M Walsh.
• Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn 55905, USA.
• Arch. Pathol. Lab. Med. 1998 Oct 1;122(10):865-70.

ObjectiveTo determine specimen collection and report times, and delivery, analytic, and total turnaround times (TAT) for routine early morning blood collections.DesignThe study was a 2-part College of American Pathologists Q-Probes study. In the first part, participants recorded specimen collection times, receipt in testing laboratory times, and test report times for all routine hemoglobin and potassium samples collected between the hours of 1 AM and 10:30 AM on one intensive care unit and one nonintensive care unit for a 1-week period. In the second part, participants provided information about their specimen collection, delivery, processing, analytic, and reporting practices in a questionnaire.SettingAn intensive care unit and a nonintensive care unit in 657 institutions.Main Outcome MeasuresMedian collection time, delivery time, analytic time, total turnaround time, and report time.ResultsMedian institutional collection times ranged from 3 AM to 9:20 AM, with the institution at the 50th percentile reporting a median collection time of 6 AM. Median institutional report times ranged from 3:45 AM to 12: 20 PM, with the institution at the 50th percentile reporting a median report time of 7:23 AM. Median delivery, analytic, and total turnaround times for the median institution were 25, 42, and 73 minutes, respectively.ConclusionsFactors shown to correlate with shorter total turnaround times were rural locations, a lower collections to full-time equivalent ratio, intensive care unit specimens, plasma for potassium measurements, the practice of delivering each specimen as it is collected, pneumatic tube delivery system, direct delivery route, and continuous versus batch testing.

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