Laboratory-based clinical audit as a tool for continual improvement: an example from CSF chemistry turnaround time audit in a South-African teaching hospital.

Introduction: Timeliness of laboratory results is crucial to patient care and outcome. Monitoring turnaround times (TAT), especially for emergency tests, is important to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of laboratory services. Laboratory-based clinical audits reveal opportunities for improving quality. Our aim was to identify the most critical steps causing a high TAT for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) chemistry analysis in our laboratory. Materials and methods: A 6-month retrospective audit was performed. The duration of each operational phase across the laboratory work flow was examined. A process-mapping audit trail of 60 randomly selected requests with a high TAT was conducted and reasons for high TAT were tested for significance. Results: A total of 1505 CSF chemistry requests were analysed. Transport of samples to the laboratory was primarily responsible for the high average TAT (median TAT = 170 minutes). Labelling accounted for most delays within the laboratory (median TAT = 71 minutes) with most delays occurring after regular work hours (P < 0.05). CSF chemistry requests without the appropriate number of CSF sample tubes were significantly associated with delays in movement of samples from the labelling area to the technologist’s work station (caused by a preference for microbiological testing prior to CSF chemistry). Conclusion: A laboratory-based clinical audit identified sample transportation, work shift periods and use of inappropriate CSF sample tubes as drivers of high TAT for CSF chemistry in our laboratory. The results of this audit will be used to change pre-analytical practices in our laboratory with the aim of improving TAT and customer satisfaction

Diagnostic challenges in critical care management of fluid and electrolyte disturbances in a poor-resource setting: a survey of critical care doctors

Background: To determine the challenges in diagnostic support for adequate fluid and electrolyte (F/E) management in a poor-resource critical care setting.Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted between March and May 2017 in one hundred and four (104) doctors practicing in four tertiary hospitals in North-central Nigeria. These doctors were currently working in Accidents and Emergency Units (A/E), Intensive care Units (ICU) and Children Emergency Units and have worked for at least two months prior to the study. They were given a structured questionnaire to fill and return. The questionnaire among other things, addressed laboratory-related factors that affect management of F/E disturbances.Results: Unavailability of some laboratory tests, inaccuracy of laboratory results, incomplete test results and delay in obtaining results, hampered F/E management in critical care according to more than 75% of the surveyed doctors. About sixty percent of the doctors reported a turnaround time (TAT) of ≥3 hours for electrolytes and most emergency biochemical tests (except urine dipstick and Blood gases). Also ≤25% of doctors responded that electrolytes and most emergency biochemical tests (except urine dipstick and Blood gases) were offered in the ICU/Emergency unit laboratories. Ten percent or less of doctors reported that electrolytes and the emergency biochemical test were available by Point of care testing (POCT).Conclusions: There is an urgent need for the managers of healthcare in LMICs to establish functional laboratories in ICUs, explore the use of POCT and build capacity for diagnostic critical care

Thyroid autoimmunity and early pregnancy loss in Jos, Nigeria

Background: Early pregnancy loss is a challenging experience for both the patient and the physician; it is unfortunately a common complication of human gestation. Early pregnancy loss is defined as the termination of pregnancy before 20 weeks of gestation or with a fetal weight of &lt;500 g. Immunological disorders have been attributed to early pregnancy loss in addition to chromosomal abnormalities. Thyroid autoimmunity is one of the immunological causes of early pregnancy loss that has been poorly studied in sub‑Saharan Africa.Objective: This study was aimed at determining the relationship between early pregnancy loss and thyroid autoimmunity in Jos, North‑Central Nigeria.Patients and Methods: This was a case‑control study involving 44 women with a current history of miscarriage at an average gestational age of 11.57 ± 4.3 weeks (cases) and 44 pregnant women with previous history of delivery with no history of miscarriage(s) at a mean gestational age of 17.9 ± 4.9 weeks (controls). Serum thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb) and thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb) were assayed by Electro‑chemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) using Cobas e411 auto analyzer (by Roche). The data obtained were analyzed using SPSS version 16.0.Results: TgAb was neither present in the cases nor in the control group. The prevalence for TPOAb was 11.4% for the cases and 4.5% for the controls. The difference in proportion was not statistically significant (P = 0.434).Conclusion: There was no statistically significant relationship between thyroid autoimmunity and early pregnancy loss.Keywords: Autoimmunity; pregnancy loss; thyroi

Modification of WHO diagnostic criteria for gestational diabetes: implications for classification of hyperglycemia in pregnancy

Background: Low and medium income countries (LMICs) especially in sub-Saharan Africa face unique challenges in screening and diagnosing hyperglycaemia in pregnancy. The implications of applying the 2013 WHO modifications for assessing hyperglycaemia in pregnancy in low resource settings are not known. We evaluated the significance of these recent changes in classification of hyperglycaemia among pregnant Nigerian women.Methods: We reviewed the records of Oral glucose tolerance test conducted on 600 pregnant women at the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) between July 2012 and June 2016. The collected data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 18 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Test for association was done using Fisher’s exact test. P < 0.05 was set as the level of significance.Results: The results show that 15.9%, 20.2% and 15.7% of the women had GDM according to WHO (1999), IADPSG and WHO (2013) diagnostic criteria respectively while 4.8% of the women had DM in pregnancy by WHO 2013 criteria. Overall, 30.2% and 23.9% of women who were classified as GDM by WHO 1999 criteria and IADPSG criteria respectively were qualified to be classified as DM in pregnancy according to the WHO 2013 criteria.Conclusions: The recent Modifications by the WHO 2013 guideline for classifying hyperglycemia in pregnancy may create non-uniform interpretation of OGTT. The confusion in classifying hyperglycemia among pregnant women referred between health centres may become more pronounced. There is an urgent need for a streamlined globally acceptable approach to assessing and classifying hyperglycemia in pregnant women

Assessment of iron Parameters and Transient Elastography (FibroScan) Pattern amongPatients with Chronic Viral Hepatitis Infection in Jos, Nigeria

Background:The long-termeffect of excess iron deposition in the liver include fibrosis and cirrhosis which may progress to hepatocellular carcinoma. We assessed iron parameters among patients with chronic viral hepatitis B and C infection (CVHBI; CVHCI) to determineif any correlation existed with the degree of fibrosis in the liver. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out on 186 patients, made up of 132 patients withCVHBI and 54 patients with CVHCI. Serum ferritin and C-reactive protein were done by ELISA, serum iron and total iron binding capacity (TIBC) by colorimetric technique while transferrin saturation (Tsat) was calculated using serum iron and TIBC values. Liver fibrosis was assessed using fibroscan.Obtained data wereanalysed using SPSS version 20 and p values &lt; 0.05 were considered statistically significant.&nbsp; Results: The mean values for serum ferritin, iron, TIBC and Tsat were 218.1±325.6µg/L, 25.1±22.8µmol/L, 71.13 ± 35.92µmol/L and 45.2 ± 49.9% respectively. There were no significant differences in iron parameters between patients with CVHBI and CVHCI. Elevated serum ferritin was found in 15.2% and 20.4% of CHBVI and CHCVI patients respectively; while an elevated Tsat was seen in 22.7% and 24.1% of CHBVI and CHCVI patients respectively. Using a combination of elevated serum ferritin and Tsat, the prevalence of iron overload was found to be1.6%. Fibroscan scores did not differ significantly between patients with orwithout elevated iron parameters. Conclusion:Chronic viral hepatitis infection is associated elevated iron parameters though withminimal effect on liver fibrosis. Conflict of interest: Ni

Combining the IADPSG criteria with the WHO diagnostic criteria for gestational diabetes mellitus optimizes predictability of adverse pregnancy outcome

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, yet there are no universally accepted diagnostic criteria for GDM. The International Association of Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Group (IADPSG) and World Health Organization′s (WHO) diagnostic criteria are commonly used criteria, although clinical outcome data of diagnostic performance of these diagnostic criteria are limited. This study examines the IADPSG and WHO criteria for predicting adverse pregnancy outcomes. Materials and Methods: This longitudinal study involved 130 pregnant women who underwent Oral Glucose Tolerance Testing (OGTT) during 24-32 weeks of gestation. Fasting, 1-hour and 2-hour glucose were measured. Participants were classified as GDM and non-GDM women based on the IADPSG and WHO diagnostic criteria. Five pregnancy outcomes were observed, namely, pre-eclampsia, shoulder dystocia or birth injury, birth weight ≥4.0 kg, clinical neonatal hypoglycaemia and birth asphyxia. Results: Twenty-eight participants (21.5%) had GDM by the IADPSG criteria (GDM IADPSG ) and 21 (16.2%) women had GDM by the WHO criteria (GDM WHO ). Only 15 women (11.5%) met the criteria for GDM by both criteria. The association of GDM with macrosomia was stronger in GDM WHO women [Odds ratio (OR) =13.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 3.4-50.6] compared to the GDM IADPSG women (OR = 5.3, 95% CI 1.5-18.9). Macrosomia or at least one adverse outcome were more likely in GDM patients who met the diagnostic criteria by both the IADPSG and WHO criteria (P = 0.001). Conclusion: A diagnosis of GDM that meets both the WHO and IADPSG criteria provides stronger prediction for adverse pregnancy outcome than a diagnosis that meets only WHO or IADPSG criteria