Utilization and quality control measures undertaken in the Central Laboratory at SKIMS, Srinagar.

Introduction: The discipline of laboratory medicine can be viewed as a bridging endeavor linking the basic medical, biological, and physical science with Medical practices. Objectives: to study utilization of central laboratory services and quality control measures practiced therein. Study Design: Retrospective and prospective study Methods: A Retrospective Study of five years and a prospective study of one year was undertaken. The methodology used included: study of available records in the Central Laboratory, Medical Records and other related departments. The study encompassed the collection of data regarding utilization and quality control of laboratory services by observational methods and study of records. To study the organisation, physical and support facilities, manpower equipment and material of central laboratory and a mixed methodology was used i. E, i) study of records ii) observational study iii) interview with the staff. Results: Retrospective study revealed that a total of 7, 36305 investigations were ordered for the period of study. Utilization per day for the entire period works out to be0.886. Yearly and monthly utilization of laboratory investigations per bed followed the same trend as utilization per bed per day. Prospective study revealed that total of 297819 laboratory tests were performed for the period of study.77.59% of the total were biochemical tests while 22.4% were haematological & allied investigations. Quality control measures studied revealed adequate staffing, physical facilities and equipment resources of the central laboratory. The internal auditing of test results which was carried out by “replicate testing” in 1% of the weekly sample revealed that 100% of the tests were within the normal standard range. User satisfaction on an average worked out to be 53.7% for all the parameters of the central laboratory. Conclusion: Study, highlights the increased utilization of laboratory services and also highlights the effective quality control measures therein