Facing COVID 19 pandemic: experience from a clinical microbiology laboratory in Spain

Abstract

Objectives: To calculate the turnaround time of results to be able in the electronic medical record. Postulate some available tools regarding laboratory management to assume full response in an increasing demand scenario. Materials and methods: Retrospective analysis of all samples reaching the lab since February 17 until May 10 was performed using LIS. Records of personnel management and equipment delivery were consulted. Time to results was measured as the difference in hours between time of analytic request and the date of result upload to the electronic medical record. Results: Time to result started at 24 hours and continually decreased over time reaching stability on week 10 around 6.5 hours. Active measurements taken fall into groups: personnel management, Laboratory schedules and technical capacity. Conclusion: Adoption of an uninterrupted sample processing method (24/7) and the implementation of high throughput systems are the best options for increasing results performance, where other measurements like redistributing and re train personnel would be more successfully implemented. Keywords: clinical laboratory services, SARS-CoV-2, medical laboratory personnel, clinical laboratory techniques, health policy, COVID-19