Most hospitals have a turn around time for most stat testing within an hour.

Terrie Marks asks how long would a typical city hospital require to run a
PT, PTT type test, assuming the doc needed the results in a hurry.

I agree with the other posts that the order-to-specimen receipt time is the
longest.  There is something about this part of the testing process that is
always the limiting factor, probably since it's mostly outside the lab's
control.  POCT will drastically reduce this time period, if you can handle
the reduction in the quality of the result -- many docs are satisfied with
just a "too high"/"too low" answer in an urgent situation, though.  A Stat
order for outpatient testing is viewed by us insiders as an annoyance, since
life-and-death situations should NOT be handled outside a hospital.  (I like
an Urgent prioity, which to us says "run me first" after the Stats are
done.)

A 20-30 min receipt-to-report time is about average for a Stat coag test,
with most of the time in the lab spent preparing the specimen and running it
on the instrument.  A routine specimen is handled almost the same in our
lab, so the internal TAT for Stats and Routines are about the same.  What
differs is the order that we place them on the instrument, and which
instruments in our assigned area we run first.

There is also another lag between report time and the time that the
physician gets the result -- again, outside the lab's control.  Even though
the computer "reports" our result almost immediately, someone has to look at
it, then give it to the physician.  Most places aren't so connected that the
physician's handheld computer beeps when a result arrives, and docs are too
busy to sit by the computer waiting for the result.

Total time from Stat order-to-result probably averages about 90 mins, but
most of that lag times occur outside the laboratory.  Our attempts to
influence what happens outside the lab usually is attributed as "noise,"
although the lab's productivity and throughput far exceeds other clinical
disciplines, probably due to our quality programs and systems thinking
mentality for the last 25 years.

Larry Smrz, MBA, MT(ASCP)SBB, CQA(ASQ)
Indianapolis, IN