An audit of diagnostic tests performed in medical microbiology, and immunology lLaboratories of University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Maiduguri, Nigeria

Abstract

Clinical audit is an important tool for reviewing and improving the  quality of service in clinical laboratories. This is a three year audit of diagnostic test carried out in Medical Microbiology and Immunology laboratories of University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Maiduguri, Nigeria. The objectives were to document and analyze the frequency of test and in relation to monthly and yearly requests, enhance  communication between the clinics and laboratories, review and improve the laboratory services from the outcome. All diagnostic tests requested for the year 2014 to 2016 from laboratory records were grouped base on months and year. The frequency and percentage of both positive and negative test out of the total test requested were calculated. There were 19 and 15 types of tests in Medical Microbiology and Immunology  laboratories respectively. Some tests (HIV Viral Load, HBeAg, and nDNA) have neither been requested nor carried out in the Laboratory for 3-year study period. In addition, high incidence of HBsAg (12.1%) and Mantoux (14.5%) tests. Also high incidence of Malaria parasites (53.7%) was recorded, while, 50.2% for Wound swab/Tissue biopsy, Microscopy-Culture-Sensitivity (MCS) followed by Sputum MCS (45%) were recorded for the mean. This reflects accuracy of clinician judgment in some test and failure in others, prevalence of different diseases, variation in number of test requested for some tests and impact of awareness  campaigns on attitude of clinician toward certain diseases. This will help in planning laboratory services, requirements to improve quality, and capacity development.

Key words: Audit, diagnosis, tests, laboratory.