Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Objectives
To quantify the workload and cost overload that the COVID-19 pandemic has meant for a Clinical Microbiology laboratory in a real-life scenario.Methods
We compared the number of samples received, their distribution, the human resources, and the budget of a Microbiology laboratory in the COVID pandemic (March-December 2020) with the same months of the previous year.Results
the total number of samples processed in the Clinical Microbiology laboratory in March to December 2020 increased 96.70% with respect to 2019 (from 246,060 to 483,993 samples), reflecting an increment of 127.50% when expressed as samples/1000 admissions (from 6057 to 13,780). The increase in workload was mainly at the expense of the virology (+2058%) and serology (+86%) areas. Despite additional personnel hiring, the samples processed per technician increased 12.5%. The extra cost attributed to Microbiology amounts to 6,616,511 euros (114.8%).Conclusions
This is the first study to provide quantitative figures about workload and cost increase caused by the COVID-19 in a Microbiology laboratory.
SUBMITTER: Catalan P
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8117483 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Diagnostic microbiology and infectious disease 20210513 2
<h4>Objectives</h4>To quantify the workload and cost overload that the COVID-19 pandemic has meant for a Clinical Microbiology laboratory in a real-life scenario.<h4>Methods</h4>We compared the number of samples received, their distribution, the human resources, and the budget of a Microbiology laboratory in the COVID pandemic (March-December 2020) with the same months of the previous year.<h4>Results</h4>the total number of samples processed in the Clinical Microbiology laboratory in March to D ...[more]