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COMPLETING THE AUDIT CYCLE OF NON‐GYNAECOLOGIC CYTOLOGY TURNAROUND TIMES
Author(s) -
Li C.,
Rana D. N.,
Desai M.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
cytopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.512
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1365-2303
pISSN - 0956-5507
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2303.2006.00392_13_2.x
Subject(s) - medicine , turnaround time , cytology , audit , pathology , economics , operating system , management , computer science
Objective: This is the re‐audit to examine whether the guidelines set after the last audit in 2002 have been implemented and followed. The initial audit concluded that the average turnaround time for reporting non‐gynaecologic cytology samples was 7 days and there was a wide variation in turnaround times between pathologists due to the practice of delayed electronic authorisation. It recommended that all cases should be electronically authorised by the reporting pathologist before a hard copy report was issued and guidelines for turnaround times should be set. These guidelines recommend turnaround times to report non‐gynaecologic cytology specimens of 3 days for urgent, 5 days for routine and 10 days for those specimens requiring ancillary tests. Audit method: Retrospective evaluation was carried out on non‐gynaecologic cytology specimens reported from 1 st August to 31 st October 2005. Results: A total of 718 non‐gynaecologic cases were reported during the 3‐month period by two cytopathologists. The largest proportion of the specimens was urine (40%), followed by FNA (24.9%), serous fluids (20.6%), respiratory specimens (7.4%), miscellaneous specimens (4.3%) including external referred cases, bile duct and oesophageal brushings, and peritoneal washings (2.8%). The mean turnaround time was 3.7 calendar days (Saturdays and Sundays were included). Over a quarter (25.2%) of the cases were reported within 1 day, and nearly half (48.6%) were reported within 2 days. Eighty‐four percent of the specimens had a turnaround time of 5 days or less and 95% were reported within 10 calendar days. Urine samples took the shortest time to report (2.6 days), followed by respiratory specimens (3.8 days), peritoneal washings and FNA (both 4 days), miscellaneous cases (4.2 days) and serous fluids (5.2 days). The reasons for the 5% specimens showing turnaround times of over 10 days were multifactoral, such factors included having to request cell blocks and/or immunohistochemical stains, having to contact the clinicians for additional information, having to retrieve prior case material for review, and external referred cases. Conclusions: These findings have demonstrated the value of completing the audit cycle. The re‐audit has demonstrated the improvement in the reporting time of non‐gynaecologic cytology specimens from 7 days to 3.7 days due to the guidelines produced following the initial audit.