5 min read · Updated 22 Aug 2026
Laboratory turnaround time is the interval between two defined points in the testing process. Labs commonly measure from sample receipt to result approval, while patients experience the interval from collection to report in hand — which is why the two figures rarely agree.
Decide which interval you are measuring
Collection to report is what the patient feels. Receipt to approval is what the laboratory controls. Analytical time alone is what an analyser vendor quotes. All three are legitimate, and quoting one while a patient experiences another is the most common source of complaints about delay.
The delay is usually not analytical
Instruments are generally the fastest part of the chain. Time is more often lost waiting for transport from a collection point, waiting for a batch to fill, waiting for a pathologist to be free to approve, or waiting for someone to actually send the report after approval.
Measure the gaps, not just the total
A single total tells you there is a problem but not where. Recording when a sample was collected, received, entered and approved lets you see which gap is growing. Without those timestamps, improving turnaround is guesswork.
Approval is the queue that hides
In many small labs, results sit entered but unapproved because the reporting pathologist is not at a screen. That queue is invisible unless the system shows it, and it is frequently the largest single component of the delay a patient experiences.
Dispatch counts as part of the time
A report approved at noon and sent at six took six extra hours from the patient point of view. Automating dispatch on approval removes a step that depends on someone remembering to do it.