QI reduces daily labs and promotes sleep-friendly lab timing
Background: Daily labs are often unnecessary on clinically stable inpatients. Additionally, daily labs are frequently drawn very early in the morning, resulting in sleep disruptions. No prior studies have attempted an EHR-based intervention to simultaneously improve both frequency and timing of labs.
Dr. Sean M. Lockwood
Study design: Quality improvement project.
Setting: Resident and hospitalist services at a single academic medical center.
Synopsis: After surveying providers about lab-ordering preferences, an EHR shortcut and visual reminder were built to facilitate labs being ordered every 48 hours at 6 a.m. (rather than daily at 4 a.m.). Results included 26.3% fewer routine lab draws per patient-day per week, and a significant increase in sleep-friendly lab order utilization per encounter per week on both resident services (intercept, 1.03; standard error, 0.29; P < .001) and hospitalist services (intercept, 1.17; SE, .50; P = .02).
Bottom line: An intervention consisting of physician education and an EHR tool reduced daily lab frequency and optimized morning lab timing to improve sleep.
Citation: Tapaskar N et al. Evaluation of the order SMARTT: An initiative to reduce phlebotomy and improve sleep-friendly labs on general medicine services. J Hosp Med. 2020;15:479-82.
Dr. Lockwood is a hospitalist and chief of quality, performance, and patient safety at the Lexington (Ky.) VA Health Care System.
