Objective:

To improve physician acknowledgement and clinical response times to send-out lab results

Background:

Medical errors lead to thousands of deaths each year. Missing laboratory tests results can contribute to these errors. Factors that may lead to missing results, including improper ordering, numerous handoffs, and a lack of formal system to follow up post-discharge results. We evaluated the efficacy of a tool built into the electronic medical record for results follow up.

Design/Methods:

The residents installed the “Results FYI” tool in Cerner to receive results for patients on whom they had assigned themselves in the role of “resident.” With this tool, any study that results after the patient is discharged appears in the resident’s inbox for review. Common send-out lab results were queried to assess the timeliness with which results were followed up upon, and we compared results from 6 months before and after the tool was implemented. 

Results:

In the pre-implementation period, we found that out of the 341 total results, 46 out of 60 positive results were followed up on (76.7%).  In the post-implementation period, we found that out of 313 total results, 47 out of 56 positive results were followed up on (83.93%). Overall the average number of days between a lab resulting and the result being acted on decreased in the post-implementation period from an average of 17.59 days to 8.04 days.  

Conclusions:

The “Results FYI” tool built into the EMR facilitates faster and more comprehensive follow up on send-out lab results after patients are discharged from the hospital than manually tracking results. Not only were more results followed up on, but it was done in a more timely manner. Universal implementation of this tool will likely lead to faster follow up for study results, leading to fewer adverse delays in patient care.