Fifteen Years of Continuous Monitoring of the Turnaround Times in Newborn Screening for Congenital Hypothyroidism

MACCALLINI, G.; ; ONETO, A.;; CASTILLO, C.; ; MICENMACHER, V.;; DURE A, ; HUNT, A ; STIVEL M,; FERNANDEZ MENTEBERRY, V.; ; CHIESA, A.; ; GLIKMAN, P.; ; DRATLER, G.; ; ROPELATO, G.;; MUNTAASBKI, P.; ; ARANDA, C.

Santiago de Chile

Congreso; X Congreso Latinoamericano de errores congenitos del metabolismo y pesquisa neonatal SLEIMPN; 2015

Sociedad Latino Americana de Errores Congénitos del Metabolismo y Screening Neonatal

Introduction:The use of quality indicators is an effective way of monitoring and reviewing the processes for the decision making. Actions are implemented in order to achieve continuous improvement over the years in every step of the processes. Objective:To evaluate the evolution of different turnaround times (TAT) covering pre-analytical, analytical, post-analytical and start of treatment in a subset of congenital hypothyroidism patients at higher risk. Materials and Methods:Newborn babies with serum confirmatory TSH concentrations above 20 uIU/ml were included. Three TAT were used: TAT1 days of life at sampling, TAT2 days between sampling and confirmatory results and TAT3 days at start of treatment. The data of each TAT include information of 3 years, starting in 2001 and finishing at June 2015. For each TAT, data of mean and 90th percentile were registered. Results:221 congenital hypothyroidism newborns between 2001 and June 2015 were included. The number of patients in each timeand the TAT are shown in the table: Conclusion:There were improvements in all the TAT over the years. Effective strategies at all levels were introduced in order to improve, achieve and keep acceptable turnaround times over time.