ARTICOLO ORIGINALE   

La Rivista Italiana della Medicina di Laboratorio 2019 Dicembre;15(4):277-83

DOI: 10.23736/S1825-859X.19.00032-X

Copyright © 2019 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Blood withdrawals extended in the afternoon and stop at the fasting: innovations for a laboratory medicine 4.0

Mariangela LONGINI ^{1, 2}, Lucia TERZUOLI ^{1, 3} ✉, Francesca MARCHI ⁴, Giampaolo COSTANTINO ¹, Alessandro SARACINI ³, Gaetano GIAMPORCARO ³, Brunetta PORCELLI ^{1, 3}, Roberto GUSINU ⁴, Carlo SCAPELLATO ¹

¹ UOC Laboratorio Patologia Clinica, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Senese, Siena, Italia; ² Dipartimento di Medicina Molecolare e dello Sviluppo, Università degli Studi di Siena, Siena, Italia; ³ Dipartimento di Biotecnologie Mediche, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Senese, Siena, Italia; ⁴ Direzione Generale, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Senese, Siena, Italia

BACKGROUND: From May 7, 2018 the single blood withdrawal point of the Santa Maria alle Scotte, University Hospital of Siena, in addition to maintaining the usual opening hours to the public in the morning, offers a continuous access from 7:30 to 16:00 on Monday and Wednesday. The reason for this innovation is linked to a dual requirement that connects the opportunity to provide a more flexible service, in terms of reception and availability, to the users of the area of Siena with the need to reduce waiting times linked to the route-withdrawal. The ability to access the service in the early afternoon hours allows to take advantage of the work break time, avoid long waiting times for collection, and easy parking; all this keeping in mind that the most recent literature reduces the need to maintain the fast that precedes the blood sample to only a few biomarkers.
METHODS: A first evaluation was carried out nine months after the start of the activity, aimed at assessing the usefulness of the service provided. The data collected have been extrapolated from the information center of the Single Reservation Center and include date and time of access, user’s general, type of sample collected, specialist destination, number and type of exams required.
RESULTS: The data collected refer to the 833 afternoon visits (12:30-16:00). The most affected age group was the active working age (26-65 years) with a number of accesses of female users almost twice that of men.
CONCLUSIONS: From the collected data it can be stated how, after the initial running-in period which took place close to the summer months, the continuous opening, proposed during the two weekdays, was favorably received by the users. The future objective is therefore focused on facilitating the evolution and potential of this initiative, which represents an important innovation in the organization of sampling centers.

KEY WORDS: Hematologic tests; Fasting; Organizational innovation