Initiative for early morning blood draw in the ward at our hospital

Abstract

The reform of work styles of physicians and other healthcare workers is in full swing. As a result of conducting a survey of the clinical departments and nursing department at our hospital regarding their expectations of the laboratory for task shifting/sharing, early morning blood draw in the wards was cited as high demand. Therefore, we carried out an early morning blood draw with the highest number of blood samplings as trial wards for six months. To verify the effectiveness of the trial wards, we conducted a questionnaire survey before, during, and after the implementation of this project for the nursing department. To evaluate the usefulness of this project, we compared the number of re-drawn blood samplings in the target wards before and after blood sampling by our department began. The results showed that to assist in blood collection in the wards was highly effective, for example, the enhancement of patient care by nurses in the early morning hours. In particular, a significant improvement was observed in the number of re-drawn blood. Furthermore, staff in charge for the project could move up their work hours by two hours, which was also found to be effective in their respective work-life balances. In conclusion, support for blood collection in hospital wards by clinical laboratory not only reduces the blood sampling duties of nurses, but also useful for patients, and has the potential to raise the level of medical care at this hospital and to provide better and safer medical care.