Cost Effective Printing of Laboratory Reports: Biochemist’s and Physician’s debate and Institutions Dilemma
Journal Title: Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research - Year 2017, Vol 11, Issue 2
Abstract
Introduction: Laboratory investigations account for significant percentage of healthcare expenses. Every hospital and laboratory especially in the government sector wants to cut down the expenses on reports and offer inferior printouts of reports. The debate of printing attractive reports (clientele aspiration) Vs costs cutting (managerial issues) continues. It becomes the moral responsibility of doctors to guide the management into implementing an effective and economical option of report transcription. Cutting cost is always good but it should be achieved in an effective way keeping in mind the expectation of all the stake holders and ensuring that quality is not significantly compromised. The data regarding economics of printing available on the Internet may be market driven and not a true reflection of printing cost. The present study was undertaken to generate data on the economics of printing reports on various platforms to enable managers to make informed decision on choice of optimal printing option. Aim: To provide practical data on economics of printing reports using various printing options available in the country. Materials and Methods: Four printing devices (laser printer, inkjet printer, dotmatrix printer and thermal printer) were connected to the laboratory information system and the reports printed from them were critically evaluated for the following parameters - cost of stationary, printing cost, time of printing and clientele satisfaction. Results: The cost of printing a single report on laser printer, inkjet printer, dotmatrix printer and thermal printers was Rs 0.75, Rs 0.65, Rs 0.20 and Rs 0.93 respectively. The time taken to print 30 reports were 162 sec, 193 sec, 210 and 60 sec respectively. Clientele satisfaction scores were best with Laser and Inkjet printed reports. Conclusion: The most economical mode of printing is Dot Matrix printer using DOS output for printing. However, when the workload of a laboratory is high, then the use of laser printer is not prohibitively expensive option and can be resorted to. Use of thermal printer was found to be unsatisfactory
Authors and Affiliations
arun kumar harith, Anil kumar avs, sangeetha sampath
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP331907
- DOI 10.7860/JCDR/2017/24462.9430
- Views 101
- Downloads 0
Effectiveness and Safety of Heparinized Saline versus Normal Saline in Maintaining Patency of Peripheral Intravenous Locks in Neonates at a Tertiary Care Hospital
Introduction: Heparinized saline is usually used as a regular flush solution to prevent occlusion of peripheral intravenous locks in neonates but the risks associated with the use of heparin cannot be ignored in these pa...
Management of Cubitus Varus Deformity in Children by Closed Dome Osteotomy
Introduction: Supracondylar fractures are the most common elbow injuries in skeletally immature children between 5-10 years of age and cubitus varus deformity is the most common late complication. Cubitus varus or bow el...
Osteoplastic Flap Approach for Posterior Table Leak: A Case Report
ABSTRACT Frontal sinus Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) leak is relatively uncommon. Surgical treatment is indicated when conservative management fails. Here we present a case report of 19-year-old male who presented with delay...
Standardisation and Automation of Netra Seka Technique in Ayurvedic Drug Delivery System
ABSTRACT Netra Pariseka/Seka (procedure for closed eye irrigation) is an ayurvedic treatment method of pouring a very fine stream of medicated liquid over the closed eyes from a height for a specified time period. This p...
Gender Variation in the Prevalence of Internet Addiction and Impact of Internet Addiction on Reaction Time and Heart Rate Variability in Medical College Students
ABSTRACT Introduction: In the present era, the internet is widely used by college students for academic, entertainment and communication purposes. College students are vulnerable to internet addiction due to various psyc...