Monitoring Of Critical Laboratory Results To Improve Quality Of Patient Care In A Large Urban Clinic In Uganda.

Musomba Rachel, Castelnuovo Barbara, Mark Nsumba, Ivan Kalule, Parkes Ratanshi Rosalind PIN118 Background Follow-up of critical laboratory results can present a challenge in resource limited settings due to high patient volumes, overstretched human resources and no systematic communication from the laboratory.[1,2,3] An audit conducted in 2013 at the Infectious Diseases Institute, a large outpatient HIV-center revealed that <50% of critical results were acted upon within 24 hours. In August 2013 new guidelines for managing laboratory test results were implemented in view of the audit findings. The guidelines specify the steps and actions that clinicians, the laboratory and the quality management unit follow while managing test results. Objectives To describe the impact of the new developed guidelines on reducing mortality of patients with critical results. Correspondence: rmusomba@idi.co.ug Phone: +256772982031 +256-414-307300 Fax: +256-414307290