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How to comply with critical test result reporting requirements

Quality Improvement Monitor, May 30, 2008

Keep your lists of critical tests and critical results and values short and minimize the number of handoffs between the testing area and the licensed practitioner if you want to pass muster during survey time, says Gayla Jackson, RN, BSN, a nurse manager at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA, and author of Critical Test Results Troubleshooter: Practical Strategies and Tools for JCAHO Compliance.

Only 64% of hospitals complied with the requirements for critical-test reporting during the third quarter of 2007, the lowest compliance rate of all of the National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG), according to data on The Joint Commission’s Web site.

One mistake hospitals make is to create critical lists that are too big, Jackson says. When this happens, nurses and doctors often receive so many calls that the effectiveness of the system and the seriousness of the critical result can be diminished.

“If a critical result list is really tight, and only the most critical or life-threatening results in an institution are being called immediately or within a chosen time frame such as 60 minutes, then everyone should understand that when these results get called to a caregiver, it is really serious,” Jackson says. “Everyone needs to pay attention and treat this type of result before a negative outcome does occur.”

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