Improving Compliance Rate of Critical Value Reporting in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Mumbai

Critical values of laboratory test results are those results that require urgent medical action and should be communicated to the clinician urgently. Accurate, prompt communication of results to the clinician by the laboratory is of extreme importance. Critical result reporting is a requirement for accreditation bodies worldwide. Repeating of the critical result has been used as a means to improve the accuracy of notification. The Joint Commission (JCI), an independent and not-for-profit organization endeavored to improve patient safety and quality of health care, defines a critical test result as “a test that requires immediate communication of result irrespective of whether it is normal, significantly abnormal or critical. ”Reporting of laboratory critical values has become an issue of international interest because of significant regulatory, medico legal and clinical concerns.

A study to improve the compliance rate of critical value in a tertiary care hospital in Mumbai was carried out for a duration of 3 months. The scope of the study included all the results termed as criticals based on pre-defined standards. The study procedure undertaken was observation, Intervention and post observation. Data was analyzed by calculating the percentage compliance of critical value reporting introducing an intervention and post observation after the intervention.

Interventions in the form of training and documentation were introduced which were found to be highly successful as it increased the overall critical value reporting compliance form 78 to 98%, thus improving the safety of patients and quality of care given to them.