Order Priorities
The Laboratory services a broad spectrum of patients throughout the hospital. As you can imagine, it would not be possible to handle every patient order at the same time. The laboratory has established order priorities to be serve all patient needs. Orders are prioritized as follows:
|
Priority |
Classification |
Description |
Turnaround |
|
(1) |
STAT |
For life-threatening situations where the results of the laboratory tests will contribute to the treatment of patients. The specimen will be collected and the result will be released within 1 hour. |
1 hour |
|
(2) |
Timed |
The Timed priority requires that a specimen be drawn at specified time because it is tied to scheduled treatment of the patient. Ex: Peak and Trough levels for Therapeutic Drugs. The specimen will be collected within 30 minutes. |
2 hours |
|
(3) |
Routine |
Orders are drawn at the next scheduled collection time by the laboratory. Patient Care Locations using this priority will print in the laboratory at 4:15 am for 5:00 am collection by Laboratory. |
3 hours |
|
(4) |
Routine AM |
Orders are collected in the first collection round of the day. ICU, CCU, SICU, and NICU Collection Labels will print on the unit at 3:15 am for 4:00 am collections by RN. For all other patient care locations, the lab will view the order through the handheld PDA devices. | Results will be released by 8:30 am. |