Evaluation of Turnaround Time for Serum Electrolytes and Troponin I in a Clinical Chemistry Laboratory: A Retrospective Observational Study

Objective: The purpose of this research was to assess the turnaround time (TAT) of the clinical chemistrylaboratory for serum electrolytes and Troponin I.Study Design: Retrospective observational study.Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at the Clinical Chemistry Laboratory of ShalamarHospital, Lahore, Pakistan from 4th January 2020 to 15th April 2022.Methods: This retrospective hospital-based study involved 3399 and 573 reports of patients who wererecommended in the clinical chemistry laboratory of the Hospital for serum electrolytes and Troponin I,respectively. Serum electrolytes and Troponin I were measured on the Diestro analyzer and Abbott i-1000 SR,respectively. Data analysis was performed on SPSS version 22.Results: Overall, 3399 patient reports referred for serum electrolyte tests were analyzed, with 1964 testsreported within TAT and 1435 delayed. Percentages of delay in the three phases of analysis, including beforeanalysis, during analysis, and after analysis, were 86.7%, 10.00% and 3.30% respectively. A total of 573 reportsof patients referred for Troponin I were analyzed, which shows 227 tests were reported within the standardTurn Around Time (TAT) and 346 were delayed. Percentages of delay in the pre-analytical phase, analyticalphase, and post-analytical phase were 74%, 20% and 6% respectively.Conclusion: Standard time for the reporting of serum electrolytes and Troponin I was 120 minutes (2 hours) and 60 minutes (1 hour), respectively. The study concluded that the main reason for the delay was found in theanalysis phase before for both serum electrolytes and Troponin I. So, there is a need to overcome the preanalytical errors to boost the efficiency of the clinical chemistry laboratory. How to cite this: Kazmi T, Tahir H, Hameed Z, Zubair M, Farhat S. Evaluation of Turnaround Time for Serum Electrolytes and Troponin I in a Clinical Chemistry Laboratory: A Retrospective Observational Study. Life and Science. 2025; 6(4): 542-546. doi: http://doi.org/10.37185/LnS.1.1.743