Timeliness of Traditional Process and Computerized Alerts for Reporting Outpatient Intermountain Healthcare Laboratory Results
| Intermountain facility | Traditional reporting with faxes, printouts and mailed reports | Computerized alerts | ||||||
| N | median # hrs | range∗ | n | median # hrs | range∗ | p value | ||
| Specimen collected → nurse started reviewing results | Specimen collected → nurse completed actions | |||||||
| Total Time | 145 | 33.4 | (25.8 – 58) | 2106 | 9.2 | (4.3 – 28) | ||
| Reporting Time | Specimen collected → Report arrived† | Specimen collected → Alert arrived§ | ||||||
| Creatinine | LDS Hospital | 48 | 1.5 | (0.9 – 7.6) | 567 | 0.8 | (0.6 – 1.1) | <.001 |
| Other | 29 | 7.2 | (3.9 – 24.2) | 475 | 1.3 | (0.9 – 1.8) | <.001 | |
| Tacrolimus | LDS Hospital | 38 | 7 | (3.6 – 24) | 572 | 3.5 | (2.4 – 4.9) | <.001 |
| Other | 25 | 25.6 | (22.7 – 47.3) | 452 | 17.4 | (12 – 24) | <.001 | |
| Cyclosporin A | LDS Hospital | 2 | 14.8 | (12.0 – 17.5) | 21 | 3.4 | (2.0 – 4.8) | 0.07 |
| Other | 3 | 28 | (21.4 – 42.8) | 19 | 26.1 | (23.8 – 28) | 0.39 | |
| Response Time | Report arrived→ nurse reviewed result‡ | Alert arrived → nurse completed actions§ | ||||||
| Creatinine | LDS Hospital | 48 | 22.4 | (5.0 – 31.9) | 567 | 3.5 | (1.4 – 7.7) | <.001 |
| Other | 29 | 19.9 | (6.7 – 34.7) | 475 | 5.6 | (1.7 – 24) | .004 | |
| Tacrolimus | LDS Hospital | 38 | 24.9 | (12.2 – 34.1) | 572 | 4.1 | (1.9 – 22) | <.001 |
| Other | 25 | 11.6 | (6.7 – 44.8) | 452 | 13.5 | (5.1 – 35) | 0.72 | |
| Cyclosporin A | LDS Hospital | 2 | 31.1 | (16.3 – 45.9) | 21 | 4.5 | (1.9 – 22) | 0.3 |
| Other | 3 | 32.7 | (3.8 – 80) | 19 | 4.4 | (0.8 – 51) | 0.6 | |
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↵∗ Reported ranges are interquartile ranges.
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↵† For creatinine and tacrolimus tests, there was a significant difference in the paper-based reporting time from LDS Hospital vs. other Intermountain hospitals (p < 0.002).
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↵‡ There was no significant difference in the response time during paper-based reporting, by source of the report or type of lab test.
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↵§ Using computerized alerts, there was a significant difference in the reporting time from LDS Hospital vs. other Intermountain hospitals for each lab test (p < 0.001) and there was a significant difference in the response time for creatinine and tacrolimus results (p<0.001).
