To ensure the highest level of patient care, your laboratory needs to have a comprehensive understanding of how it measures up to industry benchmarks and practices followed by similar labs. Benchmarking is widely recognised as the most effective way to assess your position in the market.

The Lab Insights Clinical Chemistry Laboratory Benchmarking Survey is a highly regarded and comprehensive initiative that collects data from numerous laboratories in the Asia Pacific region. With over 4000 labs surveyed since its inception, this survey stands as one of the largest and most systematic benchmarking exercises available, providing valuable insights for laboratories.

In India, we have collaborated with the Consortium of Accredited Healthcare Organisations (CAHO) to share the valuable insights gathered from the 2023 Clinical Chemistry Laboratory Benchmarking Survey. We have compiled a white paper that presents highlights from the survey, offering valuable information for healthcare professionals in the industry. Here are some highlights of the white paper.

Accreditation. ISO 15189 accreditation is not mandatory. It allows laboratories to demonstrate their commitment to quality and meet the expectations of regulators, healthcare providers, and patients. By implementing ISO 15189, laboratories can establish a quality management system that aligns with international best practices.

According to the survey results, it is evident that ISO 15189 accreditation is highly favoured among the labs surveyed. A substantial 74% of the labs reported having obtained ISO 15189 accreditation. This figure serves as a reflection of the standards established and practised by these accredited labs.

With ISO 15189 accreditation firmly in the lead, it is interesting to note that labs surveyed plan to obtain a Joint Commission International (JCI) or College of American Pathologists (CAP) accreditation, with the percentage of labs that have indicated plans to start this process shown at 9% and 24% respectively, the two highest after ISO 15189.

In India, accreditation agencies and labs are collaborating closely to facilitate the transition to ISO 15189:2022. They are actively working together to achieve two main goals. Firstly, there is a collective effort to increase the number of labs that obtain accreditation, ensuring a higher standard of quality across the industry. Secondly, they are establishing comprehensive transition frameworks, protocols, and timelines. These are designed to support labs through their transition to meet the updated ISO 15189 requirements.

Continuous Improvement Initiatives. Whether it be a change in the volume of tests handled each day, or personnel changes within the department, labs must constantly be adapting to the surroundings around them. An encouraging 82% of labs surveyed show that they have a dedicated team in place, with the top 5 tools being the following: complaint feedback system, employee continuous training, customer satisfaction survey, employee performance measurement, ending with accreditation tied with employee satisfaction surveys coming in fifth.

While unpopular at the moment, conversations surrounding the topic of environmental sustainability are worth having. The IFCC launched a task force for the Environmental Impact of Laboratory Medicine, which aims to develop guidelines and recommendations for advancing this topic in clinical labs. Watch our Q&A here with APFCB President and Chair of the task force, Professor Tony Badrick, on how he plans to implement this vision.

STAT test handling. STAT test handling can vary greatly from institution to institution due to the urgent nature of the test. In this survey, STAT test handling is from the perspective of these tests being run within the lab itself, with 31% of surveyed labs reporting that they have dedicated staff for such testing measures.

Turnaround time (TAT) targets are typically less than that of routine tests. Overall in APAC, biochemistry tests have a 45-60 min median TAT target, and immunoassay tests have one of 60 mins. In this regard, surveyed labs in India show comparatively longer TAT’s, with median TAT for biochemistry and immunoassays at 60-120 mins and 90-120 mins respectively.

IT and Workflows. Digitising certain operations in the lab has obvious advantages, chief of which are automated systems that can reduce human error. Unsurprisingly, 96% of labs surveyed have some sort of laboratory information system (LIS) in place, with 22% of them reporting the use of middleware.

Beyond the use of LIS and middleware solutions, the top 5 lab IT functionalities employed are the accounting/billing of tests, TAT monitoring, data export, generation of statistical reports and audit trails tied with critical result reporting.

These are just a few highlights of the white paper. If you wish to read more, click here to download it. For more information and ways to optimise your laboratory, please reach out to Dr Richard Rumnong.