Clinical laboratory testing in the emergency department: a six-year analysis

Abstract

Abstract Objectives This study aimed to examine the utilization of clinical laboratory services in the emergency department and to identify the changes in their usage over six years. Methods Our study is a retrospective descriptive observational study. The study includes emergency room visits between January 01, 2016, and January 01, 2022, and the analysis of the tests requested during this period. Results When the number of tests requested among the patients in the emergency departments was considered, the highest rate belonged to complete blood count (109,696,468), which was followed by creatinine (98,027,489) and potassium (94,583,831). In addition to an increase in the number of C-reactive protein (CRP) tests (118.82 %), coagulation parameters such as D-dimer (1,180.95 %) and fibrinogen (315.25 %) showed an increasing trend after the onset of pandemia. Conclusions The most frequently used tests in the emergency department were complete blood count, creatinine, potassium, blood urine nitrogen (BUN), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and Na, ferritin, fibrinogen, CRP, and D-dimer have increased over the last two years due to their clinical use in predicting the outcome of COVID-19.