Role-specific experiences of inefficiency in the biomedical research and clinical laboratory workforce

Inefficiencies impose a significant burden on healthcare workers, resulting in adverse consequences for organizations and their employees. Previous studies have explored how clinical workers perceive these inefficiencies. However, little is known about the biomedical research and clinical laboratory workforce. Open-ended survey responses from 560 biomedical research and clinical laboratory workers in a large academic medical center in the southeastern United States were analyzed using hybrid inductive-deductive qualitative thematic analysis. Employees' perceptions of tasks, processes, or systems considered duplicative, poorly designed, or unnecessary were used to describe the experience of organizational inefficiencies among biomedical research and clinical laboratory workers, and to compare experiences by professional roles. The three inefficiencies with the highest case frequency were software inefficiency (n = 55, 9.82%), appropriate staffing (n = 54, 9.64%), and communication (n = 51, 9.11%). The findings highlight potential targets for intervention and aim to guide organizational strategies that promote positive work outcomes in this understudied population.