Utilization of laboratory services and perspective of lab practices among clinicians: A cross sectional study

Introduction: In recent years, the care of patients has become increasingly dependent on the results of lab investigations. Lab investigations have always been and will continue to be an integral part of clinical practice. Clinicians focus their attention on the broader issue of protocols as a form of information management in medicine. While studies are available in western literature, in India studies regarding the utilization of lab services among clinicians are scant. Hence this study was done to assess the utilization of lab investigations by clinicians and also to take their perspective of lab practices so that it would help as a feedback and aids in improvement of lab services. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire consisting of 15 questions was distributed to 30 clinicians and their response to different questions was converted to percentage scale. Results: Majority of clinicians (86.6%) used lab services often. 33.3% felt that lab services were overutilised and the reason given was to aid in early diagnosis and for medico legal purposes. 33.3% of them had heard the term quality control but did not know its importance and 10 % had not heard of quality control. 76.6% of clinicians felt there is a need to include quality control and basic lab practices in MBBS curriculum. Conclusion: Laboratory services are utilized very often by clinicians. Majority of them felt the lab services are properly utilized. There is a need to include quality control and basic lab practices in MBBS curriculum.