Assessment of the Completeness of Laboratory Investigation Request Forms of the Outpatient Department in the District General Hospital, Matale

Introduction: In hospital settings, diagnosis and treatment rely on laboratory investigations. Investigation Request Forms (IRFs) serve as the primary means of communication between healthcare providers and laboratories. This study was conducted to assess the completeness of the laboratory investigation request forms of the Outpatient Department in the Tertiary Care Hospital in Matale District, Sri Lanka.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in May 2023 using 350 IRFs submitted to the Outpatient Department laboratory on four randomly selected working days. A checklist was used to collect data on the essential components of the completeness of IRFs; patient identification details, clinical history, name of the investigation, and prescriber’s details.
Results: None of the IRF had complete information according to the criteria. Only 1.1% (n=4) contained all three patient identification details. All the IRFs (N=350) included the ‘Name of the Investigation’, but none included the clinical history. The majority 95.7% (n=335) did not have the ‘Prescriber’s identification’.
Conclusion and Recommendations: This study observed that the majority of the IRFs were incomplete, mainly the information on patient identification and clinical history. The introduction of standardized IRFs, electronic laboratory investigation prescriptions, continuous monitoring, and feedback mechanisms can be recommended to improve the completeness of IRFS.