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Easy to use toolkit improves lab safety in primary care practices
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Clinicians and staff found a laboratory safety toolkit that required minimal technical assistance to be “useable and useful” for informing laboratory process improvement, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.
“Laboratory testing errors are more likely than other ambulatory errors to be associated with increased risk of harm,” Bethany M. Kwan, PhD, MSPH, of the department of family medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote. “A lack of systematic, standardized laboratory testing processes is noted as an underlying contributor to these patient safety concerns. To address this unmet need, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality ‘Improving Your Office Testing Process’ toolkit was developed to be a comprehensive, evidence-based set of quality improvement tools for practices to standardize and systemize lab testing processes known to improve patient safety.”
Researchers evaluated toolkit implementation in two primary care practices by observing the practice sites and conducting interviews with 19 clinicians and staff members.
Data were collected at baseline, midpoint (3 to 4 weeks) and follow-up (7 to 8 weeks after implementation). An analysis of the gathered qualitative data focused on usefulness — defined as how the practices used the toolkit for guiding lab testing process improvement — and usability — defined as ease of use and practice experience with using the toolkit.
Researchers found that those who implemented the toolkit in both practices perceived it as easy to use and easy to follow step-by-step. The most useful components of the toolkit were guidance on data gathering to inform quality improvement and tools for effective practice-patient communication.
Researchers further observed that the toolkit provided practice-specific insights into the lab processes that were considered most harmful to patients, which then helped inform improvement activities.
“Primary care practices often lack the means to assess and implement process improvement; toolkits are one possible way of supporting practice-improvement efforts,” the researchers wrote. “Despite some beliefs that toolkits are not used and not useful, our study demonstrated that in practices with established quality improvement infrastructure, a toolkit that is informed by stakeholders, well-designed, and relevant to practice priorities is a welcome resource. Future research warrants study of the toolkit in a larger set of more diverse practices, study of impact of the toolkit on patient safety outcomes, and study of the interrelationship between use of the toolkit and other quality improvement efforts, such as patient-centered medical home.” – by Melissa J. Webb
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.