Sažeci 2. Hrvatskog kongresa medicinske biokemije - Klinički zavod ...

SEKCIJSKA PREDAVANJA
Sažeci 2. Hrvatskog kongresa medicinske biokemije
S2/1
URGENT MEDICINE AND THE LABORATORY
A.M. Kelly
Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, UK
Urgent medicine demands a fast response from the laboratorv. In
the past, the time required to transport, centrifuge, analvse and report
results of specimens resulted in unacceptable turn-around times
(TAT). Now with the introduction of pneumatic tube svstems for transportation,
whole blood analvsers and on-line reporting svstems TATs
have been dramaticallv reduced.
It has been advocated that off-site laboratories are not required
and that the central laboratorv can provide both STAT, critical care
and routine services (1). This must be the most cost effective solution.
Ideallv the central laboratorv and the radiologv department
should be at the hub of the hospital complex and radiating from there
the units which require urgent sevices:
Accident and Emergencv Unit
Special Care Baby Unit
Intensive Care Medical Unit
(Coronary Care)
Intensive Care Surgical Unit
Theatres
This ideal is rarelv met and it may be that even with state-of-theart
transport systems the geographic situation of the acute medical
units necessitates an off-site laboratory
Turn-around times:
Staffes et al (2) claim to have reduced TATs from 15 to 2 - 3 minutes
for STAT specimens and from 30 to 5 minutes for routine specimens
by the use of custom made request forms and off-site laboratories
equipped with rapid assay analysers. Wherever the laboratory
is sited 10 minutes should be the target TAT for STAT specimens but
many of us still struggle to maintain a 30 minute response throughout
the 24 hours.
BIOCHEMIA MEDICA god. 6, br. 1, 1996 67