Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29562994›Full record

ArticleThe international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease : the official journal of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease2018

Time-and-motion tool for the assessment of working time in tuberculosis laboratories: a multicentre study.

V Mathys, E Roycroft, P Raftery, R Groenheit, D B Folkvardsen, D Homorodean, E Vasiliauskiene, L Vasiliauskaite, C Kodmon, M J van der Werf and 2 more

Abstract readMulticenter Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease : the official journal of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Strong increase of true and false positive mycobacterial cultures sent to the National Reference Centre in Belgium, 2007 to 2016.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2019
    Observational
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

V MathysScientific Institute of Public Health (WIV-ISP), Brussels, Belgium.
E RoycroftIrish Mycobacteria Reference Laboratory, St James' Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
P RafteryIrish Mycobacteria Reference Laboratory, St James' Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
R GroenheitPublic Health Agency of Sweden, Stockholm, Sweden.
D B FolkvardsenInternational Reference Laboratory of Mycobacteriology, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark.
D HomorodeanClinical Hospital of Pneumology, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
E VasiliauskieneCentre of Laboratory Medicine, Tuberculosis Laboratory, Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos, Vilnius, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Department of Physiology, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
L VasiliauskaiteCentre of Laboratory Medicine, Tuberculosis Laboratory, Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos, Vilnius, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Department of Physiology, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
C KodmonEuropean Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Stockholm, Sweden.
M J van der WerfEuropean Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Stockholm, Sweden.
F DrobniewskiImperial College, London.
V NikolayevskyyImperial College, London, Public Health England, National Mycobacterium Reference Service South, London, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

settingImplementation of novel diagnostic assays in tuberculosis (TB) laboratory diagnosis requires effective management of time and resources.

objectiveTo further develop and assess at multiple centres a time-and-motion (T&M) tool as an objective means for recording the actual time spent on running laboratory assays.

designMulticentre prospective study conducted in six European Union (EU) reference TB laboratories.

resultsA total of 1060 specimens were tested using four laboratory assays. The number of specimens per batch varied from one to 60; a total of 64 recordings were performed. Theoretical hands-on times per specimen (TTPS) in h:min:s for Xpert® MTB/RIF, mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable number of tandem repeats genotyping, Ziehl-Neelsen staining and manual fluorescence microscopy were respectively 00:33:02 ± 00:12:32, 00:13:34 ± 00:03:11, 00:09:54 ± 00:00:53 and 00:06:23 ± 00:01:36. Variations between laboratories were predominantly linked to the time spent on reporting and administrative procedures. Processing specimens in batches could help save time in highly automated assays (e.g., line-probe) (TTPS 00:14:00 vs. 00:09:45 for batches comprising 7 and 31 specimens, respectively).

conclusionsThe T&M tool can be considered a universal and objective methodology contributing to workload assessment in TB diagnostic laboratories. Comparison of workload between laboratories could help laboratory managers justify their resource and personnel needs for the implementation of novel, time-saving, cost-effective technologies, as well as identify areas for improvement.

Indexed as

LaboratoriesTime and Motion StudiesWorkflowWorkloadCost-Benefit AnalysisEuropean UnionHumansProspective StudiesSpecimen HandlingTime FactorsTuberculosis

Identifiers

PMID29562994
PMCPMC5868372

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.