PubMed · 15387829
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David Bartlett. 2004. Editorial.. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2842.2004.01434.x
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BACKGROUND: We have investigated the causes of incomplete pathology request forms received at our clinical chemistry laboratory. Based on a request form audit we found that the data most frequently missing from a pathology request form was the doctor's name, unique identification provider number, or signature. METHODS: We examined the effect of issuing the requesting doctors with self-inking stamps personalized with their name and a unique provider number. RESULTS: The intervention led to an immediate and sustained improvement in compliance, with the proportion of incomplete forms falling from 43% to 2%. In contrast, distribution of a memorandum alone made no significant change to the number of pathology request forms with incomplete data arriving at the laboratory. CONCLUSION: This study describes a simple and low-cost solution to one of the causes of incomplete pathology request forms. It also demonstrates the effectiveness of systems improvement in health care.
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