Errors in the Total Testing Process in the Clinical Chemistry Laboratory at the University of Gondar Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Laboratory services have been described as themajor processes contributing to safe patient care in the modernhealthcare sector. However, occurrences of errors in the overalltesting processes impair the clinical decision-making process.Such errors are supposed to be high in resource-poor countries,like Ethiopia. The objective of this study was to assess errors in thetotal testing process in the Clinical Chemistry laboratory of theUniversity of Gondar Hospital, Northwest EthiopiaMETHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted at theUniversity of Gondar Hospital from February to March 2016. Allthe required data were collected using established qualityindicators. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.Frequencies and cross-tabulations were used to summarizedescriptive statistics.RESULTS: A total of 3259 samples and corresponding laboratoryrequest forms were received for analysis. The analysis of theoverall distribution of errors revealed that 89.6% were pre-analytical errors, 2.6% were analytical, and 7.7% were post-analytical errors. Of the pre-analytical errors, incomplete requestform filling was the most frequent error observed, followed bysample rejection rate (3.8%). Analytical errors related to internaland external quality control exceeding the target range, (14.4%)and (51.4%) respectively, were reported. Excessive turnaroundtime and unreported critical value cases were the major defects inthe post-analytical phase of quality assurance.CONCLUSION: The present finding showed relatively highfrequency of errors, which alarms the importance of qualityindicators to assess errors in the total testing process. TheUniversity of Gondar Hospital laboratory should improve thequality of healthcare services based on these findings usinglaboratory standards.