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Repeat haematinic requests in patients with previous normal results: the scale of the problem in elderly patients at a district general hospital
Author(s) -
GANIYUDADA Z.,
BOWCOCK S.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
international journal of laboratory hematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.705
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1751-553X
pISSN - 1751-5521
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-553x.2011.01350.x
Subject(s) - medicine , normal values , pediatrics
Summary Repeating normal laboratory tests can waste resources. This study aimed to quantify unnecessary repeat haematinic tests taken from the elderly in a district general hospital. Haematinic tests (ferritin, B12, serum folate) from patients age ≥70 years were reviewed for repeat tests during an 8‐week period. Questionnaires were given to doctors to establish when the considered repeating a ‘borderline low normal’ result to be clinically justifiable. 7.7% of all haematinic tests were repeat tests and of these, the majority (83%) was performed following a previously normal result. Thirteen of 24 doctors believed repeating a normal result at the bottom of the normal range (‘borderline low normal’) was justifiable. After excluding ‘borderline low normal’ results, 6.0% (at minimum) of repeat tests were done following a previous normal result and were unnecessary. This audit showed that there are a significant number of unnecessary repeat haematinic tests being performed.