Does rapid blood sampling affect the retention time of patients with low-acuity complaints in the emergency department?

Introduction The objective of this study was to investigate whether rapid blood sampling during triage led to shorter stays in the emergency department for patients with low-acuity complaints. Methods A retrospective study was conducted in the emergency department (ED) of a tertiary university hospital in South Korea. A pre- and post-intervention comparison analysis was completed over one-month periods in June and September 2014. Data included triage level of the patient, time from the ED visit to receiving the doctor's orders, result time of complete blood cell count (CBC) and blood chemistry (BC), length of stay (LOS) for all discharged patients who required blood sampling. Results A total of 1308 patients were reviewed for June 2014, and 1530 patients were reviewed for September 2014. The time from the order to the CBC and BC result report differed significantly between the two groups (p < 0.001). Rapid blood sampling did not affect the LOS in the ED (p = 0.339). Conclusion Rapid blood sampling performed immediately after triage was not effective for shortening the LOS of discharged patients with low acuity complaints who required blood sampling. But the LOS of ED patients who were referred to the internal medicine was reduced by more than 200 min.