ArticlePloS one2020
Therapeutic turnaround times for common laboratory tests in a tertiary hospital in Kenya.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Prolonged Turnaround Time of the Hematology Laboratory and Related Factors in the South Gondar Zone, North West Ethiopia, Multi-Centered Study.Journal of clinical laboratory analysis · 2026Article
- Article
- Article
- Comparative Evaluation of Centrifugation Speed and Its Impact on Diagnostic Accuracy.Journal of clinical laboratory analysis · 2025Article
- Neonatal unit human resources: coverage for six cadres and trends for staff-to-baby ratios in 65 neonatal units implementing with NEST360 in Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania.Human resources for health · 2025Article
- Equity in Clinical Care and Research Involving Persons with Disorders of Consciousness.Neurocritical care · 2024Review
- Effectiveness of a Mobile App (PIMPmyHospital) in Reducing Therapeutic Turnaround Times in an Emergency Department: Protocol for a Pre- and Posttest Study.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
- Review
- Effectiveness of a Mobile App in Reducing Therapeutic Turnaround Time and Facilitating Communication between Caregivers in a Pediatric Emergency Department: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial.Journal of personalized medicine · 2022Article
- Cervical cancer diagnosis and treatment delays in the developing world: Evidence from a hospital-based study in Zambia.Gynecologic oncology reports · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
methodsWe evaluated therapeutic TAT for a tertiary hospital in Western Kenya, using a time-motion study focusing specifically on common hematology and biochemistry orders. The aim was to determine significant bottlenecks in diagnostic testing processes at the institution.
resultsA total of 356 (155 hematology and 201 biochemistry) laboratory tests were fully tracked from the time of ordering to availability of results to care providers. The total therapeutic TAT for all tests was 21.5 ± 0.249 hours (95% CI). The therapeutic TAT for hematology was 20.3 ± 0.331 hours (95% CI) while that for biochemistry tests was 22.2 ± 0.346 hours (95% CI). Printing, sorting and dispatch of the printed results emerged as the most significant bottlenecks, accounting for up to 8 hours of delay (Hematology-8.3 ± 1.29 hours (95% CI), Biochemistry-8.5 ± 1.18 hours (95% CI)). Time of test orders affected TAT, with orders made early in the morning and those in the afternoon experiencing the most delays in TAT.
conclusionSignificant inefficiencies exist at multiple steps in the turnaround times for routine laboratory tests at a large referral hospital within an LMIC setting. Multiple opportunities exist to improve TAT and streamline processes around diagnostic testing in this and other similar settings.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.