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Lab Services

Collection And Turnaround Time Expectations

Designation Collection Time

Time interval between PACIS request and receipt of the specimen in the Lab.

 Turnaround Time

Time interval between specimen receipt in the Lab and results reporting.
Medical  Emergency

( Life & Death)

 The lab assistant will respond immediately & will be at the bedside in less than 10 minutes.

Specimens are to be in the laboratory no more than 5 minutes after collection

 Chemistry Profile: 30 minutes
Blood Gas: 10 minutes
Type and Screen: 60 minutes
CBC: 10 minutes

Testing supercedes all other requests.

When several tests are received at the same time and designated Medical Emergency, they will be performed in the order received.
ASAP

(Includes STAT and NOW requests)

 ER, L&D, ICU, CVICU, RR, GILAB, X-RAY,RADONC

The lab assistant will respond immediately and be at the bedside within 10-15 minutes.

 

All other ASAP requests

The lab assistant will be at the bedside on the next hourly round from the time of order.

Specimens should arrive in the lab within 10 minutes of collection.

 Testing will be performed as soon as possible. Only Medical Emergency requests will take precedence.

Testing will be performed as soon as possible, usually within 1 hour (Exception: Tests performed at the Core lab, TAT = 2 hours). When several tests are received at the same time and designated ASAP, they will be performed in the order received.
Timed Draw Samples will be collected within 30 minutes of designated time with the exception of peak & trough therapeutic drug levels, PTT for sheath pull, time- specified blood cultures and research studies, which will be collected within 5 minutes of the designated time.

Specimens should arrive in the lab within 30 minutes of collection.

 BMP, Glucose, Mg (PH Only), CBC, PT, PTT will be performed as soon as possible, usually within 1 hour.

All other testing performed within routine TAT expectations.
Routine 0500early AM (all units) sweep: All ASAP, timed, & routine samples are collected and sent to lab as each unit is completed (approximately 30-45 min). Entire AM collection should be completed by 0730.Excluding SNF and Psychiatric units.

0800-2300: Generally, samples will be collected on the next hourly round from the time of order.

2300- 0500: Will be collected on AM sweep.

Specimens should arrive in the lab within 30 minutes of collection.

 Early AM sweep results for critical care units should be available after 0730, 0830 on weekends and Holidays. All other early AM results should be available after 0830, 0930 on weekends and Holidays.

 

Generally testing will be performed within 2-4 hours.