Our Findings
Publications & Reports
Systematic Evidence Reviews
Please review the Laboratory Medicine Best Practices’ systematic review summaries: Evidence in Action. All articles may be viewed free of charge.
- Anemia Management and Audit with Feedback Practices: Effectiveness of laboratory data to identify the cause of anemia and determine targeted treatment reduces overuse of red blood cell transfusion. Audit with feedback to healthcare professionals on their clinical performance across cases and services over specified periods of time improves the quality of patient care.
Review completed January 2019
- Reducing red blood cell transfusion with Antifibrinolytics: Blood Bank laboratories have a critical role in red blood cell transfusion reduction working in partnership with surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and pharmacists to monitor and document blood use based on the antifibrinolytics type, and administration mode in surgical and non-surgical procedures.
Review completed July 2019
- Restrictive Transfusion Strategy and Clinical Decision Support Practices: Use of institutional restrictive transfusion strategies of hemoglobin (Hb) levels (7-8 g/dL) on patients consistent with AABB guidelines are recommended for reducing RBC transfusion. The use of computerized physician order entry and clinical decision support tools with Hb alerts and/reminders of restrictive transfusion policies is a best practice for reducing RBC transfusion. ◦Full article: Restrictive transfusion strategy and clinical decision support practices for reducing RBC transfusion overuse.
Review completed July 2019
- Patient Specimen Identification – Barcoding: Effectiveness of barcoding for reducing patient specimen and laboratory testing identification errors: A Laboratory Medicine Best Practices systematic review and meta-analysis.
- Summary of LMBP Findings and Recommendations pdf icon[PDF – 537 KB]
- Full Article: Barcoding Clin Biochem 2012external icon
Review completed February 2012
- Blood Culture Contamination: Effectiveness of practices to reduce blood culture contamination: A Laboratory Medicine Best Practices systematic review and meta-analysis.
Review completed February 2012
- Critical Value Test Result Reporting: Effectiveness of automated notification and customer service call centers for timely and accurate reporting of critical values: A Laboratory Medicine Best Practices systematic review and meta-analysis.
Review completed February 2012
- Hemolyzed Blood Samples: Effectiveness of practices to reduce blood sample hemolysis in EDs: A Laboratory Medicine Best Practices systematic review and meta-analysis.
Review completed February 2012
- Cardiac Biomarkers and Other Practices Decision Point Cardiac Troponin (cTn) Threshold Selection, Assay selection, Serial Testing, and Point of Care Testing
Review completed June 2014
- Urine Pre-analytics Preanalytic Practices on Contamination and Diagnostic Accuracy of Urine Cultures
Review completed June 2015
- Blood Stream Infection Practices To Increase Timeliness of Providing Targeted Therapy for Inpatients with Bloodstream Infections
Review completed June 2014
- Lipid Biomarkers Lipoprotein Biomarkers and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease
Review completed June 2015
- Patient Misidentification Due to Specimen labeling Errors Practices to reduce specimen labeling errors at the Time of Specimen Collection in Healthcare Settings
Review completed August 2016
- Laboratory Test Utilization Practices To Support Appropriate Laboratory Test Utilization
Review completed December 2017
- Laboratory Test Results Pending at Discharge Improve Follow-Up of Laboratory Test Results Pending at Discharge
Review completed August 2016
Also available in this Evidence in Action special section are a Preamble by Rob Christenson and a Commentary by Christopher Price.
Evidence in action; commentary pdf icon[PDF – 112 KB]
Other Peer-Reviewed Publications
An article written by Colleen Shaw and Diana Mass, “Evidence to Practice: Building the Evidence for Quality Improvement in Laboratory Medicine pdf icon[PDF – 246 KB]“, appears in the Q3 Issue, 2012, of Clinical Leadership and Management Review, the flagship publication of the Clinical Laboratory Management Association.
Reports
LMBP Technical Report pdf icon[PDF – 3 MB]: The complete Technical Report describing our revised methods and findings for three topic areas, patient specimen and identification, critical value reporting, and blood culture contamination, is now available. To read only the executive summary, click here pdf icon[PDF – 97 KB]. For the full report, click here pdf icon[PDF – 3 MB].
2008-2009 Status Report pdf icon[PDF – 2 MB]: CDC commissioned The Lewin Group, under subcontract to Battelle Memorial Institute, to produce a comprehensive overview of the current state of laboratory medicine. The report provides a detailed overview of the key factors affecting laboratory medicine.
Phase 1 Final Report pdf icon[PDF – 819 KB]: This report summarizes the first two phases of the CDC/Battelle project. The report describes the initial development of a systematic, evidence-based approach for making best practice recommendations.
2007 Proficiency Testing Report pdf icon[PDF – 488 KB]: This report assesses proficiency testing (PT) in relation to the regulatory, educational, and quality improvement objectives of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988.
LMBP in the News
ASCP Critical Values, October 2010 newsletter pdf icon[PDF – 3 MB]: Susan Snyder discusses the importance of systematic evidence reviews in improving quality in laboratory medicine.
CAP Today, August 2010 pdf icon[PDF – 140 KB]: Paul Epner discusses the importance of systematic evidence reviews.
ASCP Critical Values, Jan 2010 Newsletter pdf icon[PDF – 4 MB]: Paul Epner provides an update of the Laboratory Medicine Best Practices Project.
- Cardiac Biomarkers and Other Practices
- Decision Point Cardiac Troponin (cTn) Threshold Selection, Assay selection, Serial Testing, and Point of Care Testing
- Effectiveness of Practices for Improving the Diagnostic Accuracy of Non-ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction in the Emergency Department: A Laboratory Medicine Best Practices Systematic Review.
Review completed June 2015