Evaluation of the Completeness in the Filling of Laboratory Request Forms Submitted to the Haematology Laboratory at a Tertiary Hospital in Kenya

Abstract

Background information: The laboratory request form is a communication link between the clinicians and the laboratory staff. It contains demographic details of the patient including full names, age and gender; the test required; location of the patient; date and time of request among other details. Incomplete and inaccurate filling of the request forms may cause errors which can impact on the quality of the patient care. Methodology: The study was a descriptive cross sectional where 289 laboratory request forms submitted consecutively to the haematology laboratory during the month of January 2018 were evaluated. Data was collected using a data collection form and analyzed by use of frequency table. Ethical clearance was sought from Institutional Research and Ethical Committee of Moi University and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital. Results: Of all the 289 forms evaluated, only 1% (3/289) had all the required information. The parameters with the most information were patient's name (100%), hospital number (100%), sex (99.7%), age (98.3%), investigation requested (97.6%), the location of the patient (96.9%), clinician's name (96.9%) and signature (96.5%). The least information was recorded for clinical history (14.7%) and address of the patient (4.8%). Conclusion: The study showed that there were inadequacies in the recording of the required information in the laboratory request form. The parameters which were completely filled were the patient's name and the hospital number, whereas the address and the clinical history had the least completion rates.

Total Clinical Chemistry Laboratory Errors and Evaluation of the Analytical Quality Control Using Sigma Metric for Routine Clinical Chemistry Tests

“…This finding was consistent with the study conducted in Hawassa, Ethiopia 27 (39.4%), but lower than a study conducted in Gondar, Ethiopia 20 with an overall incompleteness of 49.9%. In contrast, the current finding was much higher than studies in Nigeria, 28 Kenya 29 and Uganda 30 with an incompleteness rate of 14.3%, 22.7% and 17.9%, respectively. This disparity may be due to variation in quality indicators, study designs, study periods, awareness and experience of clinicians on the value of patient information.…”

Evaluation of Laboratory Request and Report Form Completeness and Legibility in Tuberculosis Diagnostic Laboratory at Hiwot Fana Specialized University Hospital, Harar, Ethiopia

“…The name of the patient in this study was the only parameter that presents in all the laboratory requests and reports forms. This is proportion is similar to the findings of other studies [15,17,[19][20][21] that the name of the patient was fully completed. This might be due to the fact that patients' names were as simple as it appears to be first in many requests and report format [6] and may also be due to rejected at the reception of any request form that has no patients' name.…”

“…Other study needed to identify the reasons for the inadequate filling of the laboratory request forms by the clinicians and result form by laboratory personnel should be carried out. [15,19] and Kenya 14.9% [20]. However, it was comparable with a report from North India 98% [17].…”

“…About 79.7% of patients' address was provided in this study. This proportion is lower than report from Nigeria 90.4% [6] and 96.9% [19]. The occurred difference might be due to different level of knowledge about the importance of patients' address.…”

Assessment of laboratory test request forms for completeness

“…These findings are corroborated by several other local and international studies. [7], [17][18][19][20] Apart from the patients' names, tests requested and nature of samples which were present on all the forms examined, almost all the other major parameters were frequently omitted at one time or the other in the course of the study, a reflection of what is regularly obtainable. This is similar to what other studies have reported, and it is understandably so.…”