Abstract

Objective: It is aimed to determine the corrective actions by examining the preanalytical, analytical and postanalytical processes of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests studied in the Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) process in a education and research hospital microbiology laboratory.

Methods: The test processes were investigated by examining PCR sample records taken from patients with suspected COVID-19 and sent to the microbiology laboratory between March 29 and May 15, 2020. Data used; The Public Health Management System has been obtained from the hospital information management system and the Laboratory Information System. The research was planned as retrospective, cross-sectional and descriptive, and the statistical analysis of the relevant data was evaluated using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 20.0 program using the test result time of the accepted samples, the time between sample acceptance and the time of giving results, and the rejected sample rate.

Results: In the study, traceability of microbiology laboratory processes was discussed together with the reasons. According to the findings obtained from the study, it was determined that the PCR tests were completed in an average of 3 hours, the results that were not given on time were very low and the sample rejection was quite low.

Conclusion: The organization of microbiology laboratories during the pandemic process is important in preventing transmission from healthcare professionals and patient to patient, giving results in a short time.