Using College of American Pathologists workload units for intralaboratory comparison

At Temple University Hospital, a 504-bed urban teaching hospital, lye have adapted the College of American Pathologists (CAP) workload units from the East published guidelines of the 1992 format to the 1998 Meditech Laborator y Information System MAGIC, version 4.6 (Westwood, MA). At our institution, the laboratory information system was interfaced with the hospital informa tion system-Eclipsys 7000 Series (Atlanta). CAP workload units were adapted for the clinical microbiology and immunology laboratories, which include b acteriology mycology, parasitology, mycobacteriology, virology, and microbi al immunology laboratories. All tests and procedures in the clinical microb iology and immunology laboratories were assigned workload unit values and w ere compared with workload unit values using the 1992 guidelines. Workload unit values for most procedures were incorporated directly into the Meditec h Laboratory Information System; values for general laboratory support proc edures such as quality control, phone calls, gowning, gloving, degloving, a nd of her general procedures were incorporated monthly. Databases such as t his can be quite useful in monitoring monthly workload trends, increases in workload due to laboratory mergers and acquisitions, and intralaboratory a nnual laboratory statistics.