Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2005 May;58(5):457-62.
doi: 10.1136/jcp.2004.021691.

Unnecessary repeat requesting of tests: an audit in a government hospital immunology laboratory

J Kwok  1 , B Jones
Affiliations

Unnecessary repeat requesting of tests: an audit in a government hospital immunology laboratory

J Kwok et al. J Clin Pathol. 2005 May.

Abstract

Unnecessary repeat requesting of tests can make up a large proportion of a laboratory's workload. This audit set out to establish the size of this problem and to identify the circumstances under which these repeat requests were made in a government tertiary hospital immunology laboratory. The numbers of tests for immunoglobulin measurement, common autoantibodies, and tumour markers that were repeated over a 12 month period were analysed by interrogating the Delphic laboratory computer system using a management information system for raw data enquiry protocol. Repeat requests within 12 weeks of a previous request made up 16.78% of the total workload. The total cost of the tests was estimated at 132 151 US dollars. The waste of technician time and reagents as a result of unnecessary repeat testing is excessive. Many of these tests might be eliminated with the use of interventions such as computerised reminders.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Danzon PM, Manning WG Jr, Marquis MS. Factors affecting laboratory test use and prices. Health Care Financ Rev 1984;5:23–32. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fowkes FG, Catford JC, Logan RF. Containing the use of laboratory tests. BMJ 1985;290:488–90. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Showstack JA, Schroeder SA, Matsumoto MF. Changes in the use of medical technologies, 1972–1977: a study of 10 inpatient diagnoses. N Engl J Med 1982;306:706–12. - PubMed
    1. Epstein AM, McNeil BJ. Physician characteristics and organizational factors influencing use of ambulatory tests. Med Decis Making 1985;5:401–15. - PubMed
    1. Schroeder SA, Kenders K, Cooper JK, et al. Use of laboratory tests and pharmaceuticals. Variation among physicians and effect of cost audit on subsequent use. JAMA 1973;225:969–73. - PubMed

MeSH terms