A STUDY ON TURN AROUND TIME AS A MEASURE TO ENHANCE DIAGNOSTIC EFFICIENCY AT A LEADING HOSPITAL IN BENGALURU

Diagnostics provide information that can aid patients by allowing them to choose the appropriate treatment, enabling caregivers in finding suitable preventative measures, and providing vital prognostic data that can allow care pathways and management be optimised. Timeliness is often represented in turnaround time and is used to evaluate the laboratory’s efficiency and effectiveness. According to ISO criteria, each laboratory must set turnaround times for each of its investigations that reflect clinical demands and review whether or not they are being met on a regular basis. Clinicians rely on short TATs to diagnose and treat their patients quickly, as well as to discharge patients from emergency rooms or hospital in-patient services. As a result, shorter TATs allow the management save money on general expenses. The evaluation and improvement of turnaround times is critical for laboratory quality control and patient satisfaction. This paper aims to understand the work flow process for various tests and evaluate whether or not the sample’s TAT is under set criteria. It was observed that the TAT could be reduced by implementing certain measures within the sample processing or scans and decreasing the overall TAT of the tests, thereby achieving a more efficient diagnostic system.