Evaluating The Efficacy of New Laboratory Information System in Turn Around Time (Tat) For Oral Biopsies

Abstract

Background : Due to its importance for the standard of patient care, turn around time (TAT) analysis is becoming more relevant in clinical laboratories. TAT includes all of the procedures that take place in the laboratory. The TAT for analyses might be impacted by implementation of laboratory information systems (LIS) and changes in LIS can also affect TAT.
Aim: The aim of the study is to evaluate and compare the TAT in using different LIS software - RMS and DIAS and to correlate them with
the different types of biopsies.
Material and methods : All samples that were received by the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology between April 2020 and April 2022 were taken into consideration. The data of receipt date and reported date of previous reports were included for determination of TAT. The types of samples included cytology, frozen sections, incisional biopsies, and excisional biopsies.
Results : The number of reported cases with the usage of the old LIS (RMS) is 855 and in the new LIS (DIAS) is 909. The mean TAT of
incisional biopsy, excisional biopsy, frozen sections, and cytology samples for the DIAS reduced significantly when compared to the mean value of the TAT in RMS. The mean difference in TAT is about 1 day for incisional biopsy and excisional biopsy is about 2 days.
Conclusion :The overall mean TAT improved with DIAS when compared to the RMS. Collective efforts to improve the TAT for various
specimens are essential for better laboratory performance in the future.