Abstract
We report outcomes of requests for inpatient phlebotomy procedures from 683 institutions participating in the College of American Pathologists Q- Probes programs. Of the 2 351 643 phlebotomy requests analyzed, 93.2% of venipunctures were successful, 1.6% were unsuccessful, 0.4% were partially successful, and 4.9% were not attempted by the assigned phlebotomist. Administrative inefficiencies prevented the assigned phlebotomist from attempting these venipunctures of which the most frequent reasons were patient unavailability (1.4%), patient transferred or discharged (0.9%), followed by the specimen already collected by someone else (0.7%). These results suggest that performance improvement of phlebotomy services, in general, would achieve the greatest gains by focusing attention to specific processes associated with administrative inefficiencies identified, rather than phlebotomists' technical skills.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 601-605 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine |
| Volume | 118 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| State | Published - 1994 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pathology and Forensic Medicine
- Medical Laboratory Technology
Cite this
Inpatient phlebotomy practices : A College of American Pathologists Q- Probes quality improvement study of 2 351 643 phlebotomy requests. / Howanitz, P. J.; Schifman, Ronald B.
In: Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Vol. 118, No. 6, 1994, p. 601-605.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Inpatient phlebotomy practices
T2 - A College of American Pathologists Q- Probes quality improvement study of 2 351 643 phlebotomy requests
AU - Howanitz, P. J.
AU - Schifman, Ronald B
PY - 1994
Y1 - 1994
N2 - We report outcomes of requests for inpatient phlebotomy procedures from 683 institutions participating in the College of American Pathologists Q- Probes programs. Of the 2 351 643 phlebotomy requests analyzed, 93.2% of venipunctures were successful, 1.6% were unsuccessful, 0.4% were partially successful, and 4.9% were not attempted by the assigned phlebotomist. Administrative inefficiencies prevented the assigned phlebotomist from attempting these venipunctures of which the most frequent reasons were patient unavailability (1.4%), patient transferred or discharged (0.9%), followed by the specimen already collected by someone else (0.7%). These results suggest that performance improvement of phlebotomy services, in general, would achieve the greatest gains by focusing attention to specific processes associated with administrative inefficiencies identified, rather than phlebotomists' technical skills.
AB - We report outcomes of requests for inpatient phlebotomy procedures from 683 institutions participating in the College of American Pathologists Q- Probes programs. Of the 2 351 643 phlebotomy requests analyzed, 93.2% of venipunctures were successful, 1.6% were unsuccessful, 0.4% were partially successful, and 4.9% were not attempted by the assigned phlebotomist. Administrative inefficiencies prevented the assigned phlebotomist from attempting these venipunctures of which the most frequent reasons were patient unavailability (1.4%), patient transferred or discharged (0.9%), followed by the specimen already collected by someone else (0.7%). These results suggest that performance improvement of phlebotomy services, in general, would achieve the greatest gains by focusing attention to specific processes associated with administrative inefficiencies identified, rather than phlebotomists' technical skills.
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M3 - Article
VL - 118
SP - 601
EP - 605
JO - Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
JF - Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
SN - 0003-9985
IS - 6
ER -