Strategies to reduce inappropriate laboratory blood test orders in intensive care are effective and safe: a before-and-after quality improvement study

Unnecessary pathology tests performed in intensive care units (ICU) might lead to increased costs of care and potential patient harm due to unnecessary phlebotomy. We hypothesised that a multimodal intervention program could result in a safe and effective reduction in the pathology tests ordered in our ICU. We conducted a single-centre pre- and post-study using multimodal interventions to address commonly ordered routine tests. The study was performed during the same six month period (August to February) over three years: 2012 to 2013 (pre-intervention), 2013 to 2014 (intervention) and 2014 to 2015 (post-intervention). Interventions consisted of staff education, designing new pathology forms, consultant-led pathology test ordering and intensive monitoring for a six-month period. The results of the study showed that there was a net savings of over A$213,000 in the intervention period and A$175,000 in the post-intervention period compared to the pre-intervention period. There was a 28% reduction in the tests performed in the intervention period (P
Source: Anaesthesia and Intensive Care - Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: research