A 2-Year Study of Patient Safety Competency Assessment in 29 Clinical Laboratories

Abstract

Competency assessment is critical for laboratory operations and is mandated by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988. However, no previous reports describe methods for assessing competency in patient safety. We developed and implemented a Web-based tool to assess performance of 875 laboratory staff from 29 laboratories in patient safety. Question categories included workplace culture, categorizing error, prioritization of patient safety interventions, strength of specific interventions, and general patient safety concepts. The mean score was 85.0%, with individual scores ranging from 56% to 100% and scores by category from 81.3% to 88.6%. Of the most difficult questions (<72% correct), 6 were about intervention strength, 3 about categorizing error, 1 about workplace culture, and 1 about prioritization of interventions. Of the 13 questions about intervention strength, 6 (46%) were in the lowest quartile, suggesting that this may be a difficult topic for laboratory technologists. Computer-based competency assessments help laboratories identify topics for continuing education in patient safety.

Assessment of Culture and Laboratory Practices Related to Patient Safety in Brazilian Laboratories

“…The first assessment of safety culture in clinical laboratories was performed by Reed et al, 17 revealing deficiencies in the classification of laboratory errors and in the selection of interventions.…”

“…The evaluation of laboratory practices related to patient safety was based on several bibliographical references and was divided into 4 dimensions: preanalytical, analytical, postanalytical, and risk management 7,13–20 …”

“…11,12 The evaluation of laboratory practices related to patient safety was based on several bibliographical references and was divided into 4 dimensions: preanalytical, analytical, postanalytical, and risk management. 7,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] The proposed new questions were submitted for validation by an expert panel, comprising 3 experts in clinical pathology/ laboratory medicine and 2 researchers in patient safety, with experience in transcultural adaptation of assessment instruments. All experts had a minimum experience of 5 years in their area of expertise.…”