LAUSR

Dear QA Q&A, As laboratory director, I receive frequent complaints from treating clinicians about the prolonged turnaround time for diagnostic results. I initially thought that our pathologists were slow at diagnosing their cases, but after an analysis of turnaround times by testing phase, I am now concerned that pre-analytic steps are the main culprit contributing to our problematic turnaround time. Our accessioners and technologists insist that we are understaffed, and we may well be, but I don’t see us getting any new positions approved this year. How do my team and I figure out whether technical inefficiencies and waste exist in our current workflow? Ideally, we hope to make our frontline feel empowered rather than criticized and support them in effecting change.