A Quality Improvement Initiative: Reducing Unnecessary Phlebotomy, Enhancing Patient Experience, and…

StudyAmerican journal of medical quality : the official journal of the American College of Medical Quality· Aug 2026

A Quality Improvement Initiative: Reducing Unnecessary Phlebotomy, Enhancing Patient Experience, and Minimizing Environmental Impact in the Inpatient Setting.

Ashwin Varkey, Simran Parmar, Nai Chen Yeat, Vladimir Ornstein

Hospital MedicineStudyClinical practiceQ3IF 0.8

Quality improvement intervention cut inpatient lab orders by 4657 in three months.

A Quality Improvement Initiative: Reducing Unnecessary Phlebotomy, Enhancing Patient Experience, and Minimizing Environmental Impact in the Inpatient Setting.

Ashwin Varkey … Vladimir Ornstein

American journal of medical quality · Aug 2026 · Q3 in General Medicine

Background

The steady increase in laboratory testing volume burdens the health care system with substantial costs, contributes to patient dissatisfaction, and generates adverse environmental effects.

Purpose

Our quality improvement (quality improvement) project aimed to employ a multimodal intervention to enhance appropriate laboratory utilization amongst residents and hospitalists.

Methods

This quality improvement initiative used a multimodal intervention to enhance appropriate lab utilization among residents and hospitalists.

Results

4657

orders dropped sharply in three months, less unnecessary testing

More results

Specifically, there were significant reductions in comprehensive metabolic panel (comprehensive metabolic panel) (19.5%), serum Mg (11.8%), serum Phos (14.1%), and complete blood count (complete blood count) (11.2%) orders, alongside a 20% increase in basic metabolic panel (basic metabolic panel) orders.

More results

Patient satisfaction improved, with affirmative "rest and recover" responses rising from 51.8% to 63.2%.

This reduction generated an estimated $10,645 in cost savings and a 1304.61 kg reduction in CO2 emissions.

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Conclusion · 1 of 2

This multifaceted quality improvement approach, integrating systemic interventions and education, effectively reduced unnecessary lab testing.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

It simultaneously improved patient experience, yielded cost savings, and mitigated environmental impact, offering a transferable framework.

A Quality Improvement Initiative: Reducing Unnecessary Phlebotomy, Enhancing Patient Experience, and Minimizing Environmental Impact in the Inpatient Setting.

A Quality Improvement Initiative: Reducing Unnecessary Phlebotomy, Enhancing Patient Experience, and Minimizing Environmental Impact in the Inpatient Setting.

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