The majority of laboratory testing errors originate in the pre-analytical phase. While the causes and frequencies of pre-analytical errors are well characterized, there are few studies investigating the cost of these errors. The objective of this research was to build a model to quantify the cost of pre-analytical errors occurring during inpatient complete blood count (CBC) testing at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (Sunnybrook). The resultant cost model accounts for the costs of materials, resources, and personnel-time consumed in the CBC testing process. In 2011, pre-analytical errors in inpatient CBC testing cost Sunnybrook $43,462, and represented a loss of 775 employee hours due to laboratory test repetition and error-related activities. This cost model represents the minimum cost of a pre-analytical error, as costs extraneous to the laboratory were beyond the study scope. Future studies investigating downstream effects of pre-analytical errors and the costs associated with them should be conducted.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/42385 |
| Date | 15 November 2013 |
| Creators | Burrows, James Michal |
| Contributors | Reis, Marciano |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
Page generated in 0.0021 seconds