Enver BOZDEMİR, Mehmet Nurullah KURUTKAN, Melek TERZİ

Reprocessing Cost Analysis of Specimens Rejected in Laboratory: Results from the Perspective of the Costs to the Hospital

Objective: The objective of the study is to analyze the additional costs of reprocessing the specimens rejected in the laboratory to the hospital.Methods: The data is acquired from the Düzce University Medical Application and Research Hospital (DUMARH) laboratories. 5-year (2015-2019) data was retrospectively reviewed and subjected to document analysis.Results: The rate of the total rejected specimens has increased throughout the years. (2015, 0.88% – 2019, 2.12%). The most prominentrejection reasons are hemolysis specimen (32.9%), insufficient specimen (17.25%), clotted specimen (15.4%) and inaccurate examinationrequest (10.64%). While the reprocessing cost of specimens was 12.085 dollars in 2015, it increased to 51.132 dollars in 2019. It is seen that therejection rate has increased as the specimen number increased and the reprocessing costs have increased since the inflation in Turkey increasedand the purchasing power of the hospital has decreased throughout the years.Conclusion: In order to decrease and prevent the rejected specimen, there is a need for phlebotomy training, especially for nursing and otherhealthcare professionals, and strict quality control and standard operating procedures for the pre-analytical phase. These are the criticalapproaches that will improve the service quality of laboratories and patient safety.

Keywords:

Laboratory Rejected Specimen, Reprocessing, Cost Analysis,

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