Laboratory tests in the Emergency Department: a consensus document by SIBioC-Medicina di Laboratorio and the Academy of Emergency Medicine and Care.

Laboratory diagnostics in the emergency setting encompasses the identification of appropriate testing according to specific acute conditions. Since the pathway of ordering tests in the Italian Emergency Departments (EDs) is rather heterogeneous, SIBioC-Medicina di Laboratorio and the Academy of Emergency Medicine and Care designed a survey aimed to generate consensus pertaining to appropriate laboratory tests in most frequent acute conditions. A questionnaire including a panel of laboratory tests was administered to 8 representative members of each of the two societies, who were asked to provide a score between 1 and 3 for the various tests, where a score of 1 entailed “highly recommended”, 2 “recommended in specific conditions” and 3 identified “highly discouraged” tests. The results of the questionnaire are shown as mean (±SD) of individual responses, thus allowing to define a scale of priority comprised between “highly recommended” and “highly discouraged”. Overall, 24 tests were classified as “highly recommended”, whereas 6 were “highly discouraged”. The remaining 16 tests were classified as “somehow recommended” or “somehow discouraged”. In the expectations of the two societies, this document may represent a first step towards harmonizing the laboratory test ordering in Italian EDs.