The DOI matches its Crossref record; 7 of the 7 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Implementation of total laboratory automation at a tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia: effect on turnaround time and cost efficiency
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Total laboratory automation (TLA) is a relatively new way of improving the management of high volume clinical laboratories. TLA may reduce staff, reduce operating costs, decrease testing time and provide enhanced process control. OBJECTIVES: Establish a cost efficient TLA that is less labor intensive, improves productivity and reduces turnaround time (TAT). DESIGN: Implementation of TLA for random glucose and troponin-T as sentinel tests to compare change in TAT. SETTING: Tertiary hospital with high volume of laboratory tests. METHODS: Routine patient samples for random glucose and troponin-T were used to capture TAT. Information on staff grades and schedules before and after implementing the TLA, and cost of contracts to deliver the service were collected. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: TAT, cost efficiency, and reduction in labor. RESULTS: The consolidation of contracts resulted in a reduction of 28.8 million SAR in direct costs. Staffing cost was reduced by 1.14 million SAR with less senior staff required; there were reductions in staff at both senior and junior level. The overall TAT for all tests was reduced by 32% in 2016 (after TLA implementation) compared to 2012 (before TLA implementation). The median TAT for random glucose tests was reduced by 21% (to 55.7 minutes in 2016 from 70.1 minutes in 2012). Evidence of test optimization by exploring the impact of stat tests, auto-dilutions and reruns on the overall TAT of the TLA is shown by comparing troponin T TATs after reclassifying stat tests (in 2016) to routine (in 2017). At the 75th percentile, there was a 27% reduction in TAT when comparing August 2016 to March 2017 with a 19% reduction in median TAT. CONCLUSION: By moving from stat to routine assays, the TAT was reduced, which is counter-intuitive. The use of stat assays slowed down the performance of the TLA. A careful review of the mix of assays should be conducted to maximize performance and to ensure that the system delivers what is required. LIMITATIONS: Room for improvement by systematically analyzing and reviewing the impact of making minor changes that could have significant impact on TAT. CONFLICT OF INTEREST: None.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Establishing stat laboratories or rapid response teams within or near high-acuity areas like the ED or ICU can decentralize testing for a select menu of critical tests (e.g., ABG, lactate, troponin), eliminating transportation delays.”
From Impact of Laboratory Turnaround Time on Clinical Decision-Making and Patient Outcomes (2024) · cites this paper as [27]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Such improvements have been shown to reduce the TAT [26–30].”
From Shorter laboratory turnaround time is associated with shorter emergency department length of stay: a retrospective cohort study (2022) · cites this paper as [29]
The check wasn’t confident either way, so it gives no verdict — never disputed.
In the citing paper
“Implementing single-piece flow for stat samples, where they are processed immediately upon arrival rather than batched, is another effective tactic.”
From Impact of Laboratory Turnaround Time on Clinical Decision-Making and Patient Outcomes (2024) · cites this paper as [27]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe check wasn’t confident either way, so it gives no verdict — never disputed.
In the citing paper
“Standardizing collection protocols and investing in continuous training for all staff involved in the pre-analytical phase reduces sample rejection rates [27].”
From Impact of Laboratory Turnaround Time on Clinical Decision-Making and Patient Outcomes (2024) · cites this paper as [27]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Total laboratory automation: Do stat tests still matter?
Dolci, A., Giavarina, D., Pasqualetti, S., Szőke, D., & Panteghini, M. (2017) · Clinical Biochemistry · doi:10.1016/j.clinbiochem.2017.04.002 · Cited by 66
Clinical Laboratory Automation: A Case Study
Archetti, C., Montanelli, A., Finazzi, D., Caimi, L., & Garrafa, E. (2017) · Journal of Public Health Research · doi:10.4081/jphr.2017.881 · Cited by 57
Evaluation of the impact of a total automation system in a large core laboratory on turnaround time
Lou, A. H., Elnenaei, M. O., Sadek, I., Thompson, S., Crocker, B., & Nassar, B. A. (2016) · Clinical Biochemistry · doi:10.1016/j.clinbiochem.2016.08.018 · Cited by 47
Lou, A. H., Elnenaei, M. O., Sadek, I., Thompson, S., Crocker, B., & Nassar, B. A. (2017) · Clinical Biochemistry · doi:10.1016/j.clinbiochem.2017.04.019 · Cited by 34
Nonanalytic Laboratory Automation: A Quarter Century of Progress
Hawker, C. D. (2017) · Clinical Chemistry · doi:10.1373/clinchem.2017.272047 · Cited by 32
Designing and evaluating autoverification rules for thyroid function profiles and sex hormone tests
Li, J., Cheng, B., Ouyang, H., Xiao, T., Hu, J., & Cai, Y. (2017) · Annals of Clinical Biochemistry International Journal of Laboratory Medicine · doi:10.1177/0004563217712291 · Cited by 27
The impact of automating laboratory request forms on the quality of healthcare services
Dogether, M. A., Muallem, Y. A., Househ, M. S., Saddik, B. A., & Khalifa, M. (2016) · Journal of Infection and Public Health · doi:10.1016/j.jiph.2016.09.003 · Cited by 16
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Nonanalytic Laboratory Automation: A Quarter Century of Progress
Hawker, C. D. (2017) · Clinical Chemistry · doi:10.1373/clinchem.2017.272047 · Cited by 32
Kim, K., Lee, S., Kim, T. H., & Lee, S. G. (2021) · Annals of Laboratory Medicine · doi:10.3343/alm.2022.42.1.89 · Cited by 30
The Impact of Total Automaton on the Clinical Laboratory Workforce: A Case Study
Alnaam, Y., Elsafi, S. H., Aljahdali, M. H., Shaman, R. S. A., Al-Qurouni, B. H., & Zahrani, E. M. A. (2022) · Journal of Healthcare Leadership · doi:10.2147/jhl.s362614 · Cited by 28
Vrijsen, B. E. L., Haitjema, S., Westerink, J., Hulsbergen-Veelken, C. A. R., van Solinge, W. W., & ten Berg, M. J. (2022) · BMC Emergency Medicine · doi:10.1186/s12873-022-00763-w · Cited by 20
Rupp, N., Ries, R., Wienbruch, R., & Züchner, T. (2023) · Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry · doi:10.1007/s00216-023-05038-2 · Cited by 19
Metadata
- Authors
- Ellison, T. L., Alharbi, M., Alkaf, M., Elimam, S., Alfaries, M., Al Nounou, R., Nasr, R., & Owaidah, T.
- Affiliations
- King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre (SA)
- From the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- Corresponding author
- Owaidah, Tarek
- Venue
- Annals of Saudi Medicine
- Published
- 2018-09
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 352-357
- ISSN
- 0256-4947 (ISSN-L)
- 0975-4466
- PMC
- PMC6180219
- OpenAlex
- W2897284165
- Cited by
- 22
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 0.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-nd
- Locations
- Annals of Saudi Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Medical Laboratory Technology › Clinical Laboratory Practices and Quality Control
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare cost, quality, practices
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Healthcare Operations and Scheduling Optimization
- Keywords
- total laboratory automation, turnaround time, cost efficiency, random blood glucose, troponin T, routine assay, tertiary care hospital
- MeSH terms
- Contract Services, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Direct Service Costs, Humans, Laboratories, Hospital, Personnel Staffing and Scheduling, Saudi Arabia, Time Factors, Efficiency, Organizational, Automation, Laboratory, Tertiary Care Centers
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
How to cite
Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.
- This page
- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Implementation of total laboratory automation at a tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia: effect on turnaround time and cost efficiency. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.5144/0256-4947.2018.352
- The paper
- Ellison, T. L., Alharbi, M., Alkaf, M., Elimam, S., Alfaries, M., Al Nounou, R., Nasr, R., & Owaidah, T. (2018). Implementation of total laboratory automation at a tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia: effect on turnaround time and cost efficiency. Annals of Saudi Medicine. https://doi.org/10.5144/0256-4947.2018.352
