Lab tips alert prescribers to common lab ordering challenges and solutions.
Adding on Additional Tests
Challenge: Laboratory staff not infrequently find handwritten requests for additional testing added to printed Connect Care requisitions. As lab staff are working toward a workflow where paper copies of Connect Care requisitions will not be used, there is risk that tests added by handwriting onto a Connect Care requisition will be missed. Similarly, requests for additional testing indicated within the Comments section of a Connect Care ordered test could be missed.
Context: Per current APL Acceptance of Laboratory Samples and Test Requests policy, if there is a handwritten request for additional testing on a printed Connect Care requisition, this discrepancy between the paper requisition and what is entered in the Lab Information System (Beaker) is a minor deficiency; in these circumstances, lab staff do not know who has added these additional tests to the paper requisition and if they should be performed. Even if all testing is to be performed on a single specimen, each test that needs to be performed on that specimen should be individually entered into Connect Care, not handwritten nor entered in the Comment field of the first order.
Context: Per current APL Acceptance of Laboratory Samples and Test Requests policy, if there is a handwritten request for additional testing on a printed Connect Care requisition, this discrepancy between the paper requisition and what is entered in the Lab Information System (Beaker) is a minor deficiency; in these circumstances, lab staff do not know who has added these additional tests to the paper requisition and if they should be performed. Even if all testing is to be performed on a single specimen, each test that needs to be performed on that specimen should be individually entered into Connect Care, not handwritten nor entered in the Comment field of the first order.
Solution: All tests should be either directly entered into Connect Care (or handwritten on the appropriate Community requisition), even if all testing is to be performed on a single specimen. Additional orders should not be handwritten onto printed Connect Care requisitions; similarly, it is not appropriate to request additional testing to be performed within the Comments section of a Connect Care ordered test.
For information on adding on tests to already-collected specimens, see the Tippy: