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First published November 23, 2004 as JAMIA PrePrint; doi:10.1197/jamia.M1604
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association 2005;12(2):229-233
© 2005 American Medical Informatics Association

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Submitted on April 23, 2004
Accepted on November 10, 2004

Frequency of Laboratory Test Utilization in the Intensive Care Unit and Its Implications for Large Scale Data Collection Efforts

Joseph J. Frassica MD1*

Affiliation of the authors: 1 Departments of Pediatrics and Anesthesiology, Division of Pediatric Critical Care, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Objective Mapping local use names to standardized nomenclatures such as LOINC® (Logical Identifier Names and Codes) is a time-consuming task when done retrospectively or during the configuration of new information systems. We sought to identify a subset of ICU laboratory tests which, because of their frequency of use, should be the focus of efforts to standardize test names in ICU information systems.

We reviewed the ordering practices in a Medical, Surgical and Pediatric ICU within a large University Teaching Hospital to identify the subset of laboratory tests which represented the majority of tests performed in these settings. We compared the results of our findings to the laboratory tests required to complete several of the most frequently used ICU acuity scoring systems.

Results We found that between 104 and 202 tests and profiles represented 99% of all testing in three ICUs. All of the lab studies needed for six commonly used ICU scoring systems fell into the top 21 lab studies and profiles performed in each ICU.

Conclusion We have identified a small subset of the LOINC® database which should be the focus of efforts to standardize test names in ICU information systems. Mapping this subset of laboratory tests and profiles to LOINC® vocabulary will simplify the process of collecting data for large-scale databases such as ICU scoring systems and the configuration of new ICU information systems.






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