TURN AROUND TIME A QUALITY ATTRIBUTE FOR LABORATORY PROFICIENCY : A ONE YEAR EXPERIENCE.

Timeliness is an important quality attribute for any laboratory. Timeliness which is commonly expressed as the turnaround time (TAT) is often used as the benchmark for laboratory performance. Our study evaluated the total TAT, the intralab TAT and contribution of the preanalytical, analytical and post analytical phase to the total TAT. The turn around time (TAT) for routine and emergency for both the outpatients and inpatients were evaluated for one year. The total TAT was calculated from sample reception till the dispatch. The TAT for the routine biochemistry samples for inpatients was an average of 5 h whereas the TAT for the outpatient samples was 24 h. The turnaround time for emergency samples was 1 h. The contribution of the pre and post-analytical phases were 80% in OPD and 62.5% in Ward (IPD) to the total TAT whereas for emergency samples the pre and post analytical phases contribute to 55% & 50% of total TAT for routine parameters and electrolytes respectively. The analysis of TAT demonstrates the need for improvement and improvisation in the pre-analytical and post-analytical phase in order to reduce the total TAT.