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Defining values and tests crucial to CTR standard

Accreditation Connection, May 7, 2007

What's one of the most common reasons that hospitals cannot adhere to National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) #2C, improving the timeliness of reporting critical test results (CTR) and values? Defining too many tests and results as critical, according to Rodrick Beers, laboratory manager at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center (MSRMC) in Palmer, AK.

"If all of your tests or results are critical, it's impossible to report them in a timely manner every time," Beers says. "In some ways, all tests could be critical depending on the patient's condition, so it really comes down to defining which values make test results life threatening and require immediate medical intervention."

To combat this problem, MSRMC created a critical value result chart that gives ranges for a variety of test results (e.g., a blood test for calcium that is less than 6.1 mg/dL or greater than 12.6 mg/dL is considered critical). A patient with a result falling into one of these values is considered to have a critical result and thus once the nurse receives the result from the lab, the responsible physician must receive the result within 30 minutes, Beers says.

Note: All tests ordered from the ED are considered critical and must be distributed immediately, according to MSRMC policy.

Access the full story in the April issue of Briefings on The Joint Commission; access is free for subscribers, nonsubscribers can sign up for a 30-day free trial of BOJExtra! or purchase a copy of the story for $10 by clicking here.

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