Objectives: This study aims to analyze the turnaround time (TAT) of intraoperative PTH (parathyroid hormone) testing and to support surgical success with objective criteria by calculating reference change values (RCV).

Methods: TAT analysis was performed from the hospital information system (HBS)-statistics module for intraoperative PTH tests measured by our laboratory between 1.7.2022 - 1.7.2024. Since PTH requests were made in the emergency laboratory from different clinics, manual calculations were made only for PTH requests from general surgery. RCV value (%)= z. 2^1/2. (CV_A² + CV_I²)^1/2 was calculated using the formula.

Results: In the automatic TAT analysis performed on HBS data, the average result turnaround time for a total of 278 test results was found to be 71 minutes. However, during the analysis, it was observed that intraoperative PTH tests were also requested by clinics other than general surgery. Therefore, only 80 patients coming from surgery and a total of 163 test results were evaluated separately. As a result of manual TAT analysis, the average test result turnaround time was calculated as 54 minutes. In 72% of the patients, test results were reported within the targeted maximum of 60 minutes. The CVA value calculated from the internal quality control data was found to be 10.51% and based on this, %RCV was calculated as 65% for the 90% confidence interval and 77.2% for the 95% confidence interval.

Conclusion: This study has shown that the result turnaround times for intraoperative PTH testing can be kept below the target value of maximum 60 minutes. The necessity of manual analyses for intraoperative PTH is emphasized in the TAT analysis, since HBS data also includes requests from non-general surgery clinics. It is recommended to prevent intraoperative PTH test requests from non-surgical clinics in order to reduce emergency laboratory workload.