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Reducing Unnecessary Phlebotomy Testing Using A Clinical Decision Support System, Valerie Strockbine, Cathie E. Guzzetta, Eric Gehrie, Qiuping (Pearl) Zhou

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

Overuse of phlebotomy testing offers little to improve patient outcomes but may subject patients to additional morbidity. Low-cost, high-frequency tests are ordered recurrently, unnecessarily, and contribute to the high cost of health care. Reducing unnecessary phlebotomy tests can cut costs without compromising quality. Type and screen tests are active for three days from the date the specimen is collected, yet our blood bank laboratory observed type and screen tests were often unnecessarily ordered in our organization. We set out to determine the effectiveness of a clinical decision support system (CDSS) on reducing unnecessary type and screen tests, estimate the cost …