LABORATORY COMPUTER AVAILABILITY - A COLLEGE-OF-AMERICAN-PATHOLOGISTSQ-PROBES STUDY OF COMPUTER DOWNTIME IN 422 INSTITUTIONS

Objective.--To determine the frequency, duration, and impact of comput er downtime on laboratory operations. Methods.--Four hundred twenty-tw o laboratories monitored the frequency of computer system downtime and other computer malfunctions over a period of 30 days. Participants cl assified each instance of unavailability according to its cause, durat ion, and consequences. In all, data from 11 967 instances were submitt ed for analysis. Results.--During the 30-day study period, the partici pating institutions experienced a median of eight episodes in which al l or a primary computer function was unavailable. The cumulative media n duration of downtime during these 30 days was 14.3 hours. The most u nfortunate 10% of participants reported having 44 or more episodes in which all or a primary computer function was lost during the 30 days, for a cumulative duration of 77.7 or more hours of system unavailabili ty. Computer installations that served two or more full-service labora tories were significantly more likely to experience unscheduled loss o f all or a primary computer function than were sites that served only one laboratory, and unscheduled events were more likely to be of longe r duration. Participants reported that 1.3% of downtime events require d the use of staff overtime to perform required work. Overtime was mor e likely with longer-than-average periods of downtime and losses that had not been scheduled. Of all the downtime instances, 0.2% led to the release of inaccurate results, and 0.1% led to an adverse clinical ou tcome. These events were associated with software failure, unscheduled downtime, a site's overall frequency of downtime, particular software vendors, and not having installed a software patch in the previous 10 00 days. Conclusions.--The frequency of laboratory computer downtime v aries widely among institutions and is occasionally associated with ad verse clinical outcomes or additional staff expense.