Turn Around Time Experiment

There is a severe problem on the night shift and there have been complaints about the delays in the turn-around time of the specimens from the operating room. On the night shift, there is one specimen accessioner and one supervisor and a person in each of different departments. There are hematology-coagulation, chemistry, blood bank and microbiology-immunology. In the healthcare system, turn-around time is a crucial factor in running the laboratory. Turn-around time can affect the treatment of the patient, for instance to specific treatment of the disease. The turn-around time is defined differently to patients, physicians and lab techs. To the patient, the turn-around time is when they arrive to the physician’s office to when he/she received results from the physician. To the physician, the turn-around time is when they order the tests to when they receive the results from the lab. To the lab techs, the turn-around time is when they receive the specimen to when they send out the result. (Chima 518) When the specimen is in the lab getting tested, this is the analytical phase of testing. To physician, the turn-around time includes all three phases. This time is the analytical phase of the turn-around time and to the
Edwards Deming‘s principles of quality was reinterpreted into Lean Six Sigma. Lean Six Sigma is used in the laboratory to improve quality in the laboratory. Lean Six Sigma is finding the root cause of problems and reducing the extra steps to increase the quality and remove extra costs. W. Edwards Deming stated that documentation is important for quality and it is now critical part of the laboratory’s quality. (Jacobson 142) In the laboratory, the technician documents all the quality controls and problems with the machines and everything that was done when the technician was at work. This improves the quality of the laboratory because the manager will know what is happening in the lab and if all the test results that are sent out can be