Assessment of Filling of Relevant Information on the Laboratory Request Forms

Background and Objective: It has been observed in the recent past, that the importance of preventing pre-analytical errors was reported to cause as high as 67% of errors observed in laboratory results. The errors in this phase of analysis are still unresolved even with the advent of autoanalyzers. The objective of this study was to analyze the contribution of inadequate filling of request forms to pre-analytical errors. Materials and Methods: The research was a cross-sectional study that was carried out on in- and outpatient request forms received from various sections of the hospital over a period of three months. A protocol table was created to capture variables. The analysis included all request forms obtained in each of the four laboratories as well as those obtained from other hospitals in the environment. Data were analyzed by the use of SPSS version 23. Variables were summarised by mean and frequency tables. Results: The age of the patient was missing from 14.6% of the forms. The gender of the patients was missing in 1.3% of cases. The time of sample collection was specified in 105 (10.5%) request forms but was left blank in 895 (89.5%) forms. In 303 (30.3%) of the forms, the date of sample collection was missing. In 989 (98.9%) of the forms, the current medication history of the patients was not provided. The clinical summary was provided in 856 (85.6%) forms while it was not indicated in 126 (12.6%) of the forms. Conclusion: Only the patients’ names and the investigations required were filled in all the forms. All other parameters on the laboratory request forms were not fully completed.