DTI Drug Target Insights 2024; 18: 1-3 ISSN 1177-3928 | DOI: 10.33393/dti.2024.2670 ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE Drug Target Insights - ISSN 1177-3928 - www.aboutscience.eu/dti © 2024 The Authors. This article is published by AboutScience and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). Commercial use is not permitted and is subject to Publisher’s permissions. Full information is available at www.aboutscience.eu Evaluation of non-conformities in the drafting of bulletins for urine cytobacteriological examinations at Sikasso Hospital (Mali) Luka Diarra1, Moussa Mariko1,2, Salif Traore3, Safi Bazi Dicko4, Aboudou Dolo5, Moussa Coulibaly6, Daouda Sidibé7, Moumouni Daou7, Hachimi Poma8, Madou Traore4, Ibrahim Guindo9,10 1Medical Biology Laboratory, Sikasso Hospital, Bamako - Mali 2Sikasso Hospital Pharmacy, Sikasso Hospital, Bamako - Mali 3Urology Department, Sikasso Hospital, Bamako - Mali 4Infectious and Tropical Diseases Department, Sikasso Hospital, Bamako - Mali 5Nephrology Department, Sikasso Hospital, Bamako - Mali 6Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, Sikasso Hospital, Bamako - Mali 7General Management, Sikasso Hospital, Bamako - Mali 8Paediatrics Department, Sikasso Hospital, Bamako - Mali 9National Institute of Public Health, Bamako - Mali 10Faculty of Technical Sciences and Technology, Bamako - Mali ABSTRACT Background: Non-compliance in the drafting of examination bulletins makes it difficult to perform them and interpret the results. With the aim of continuously improving laboratory services and guaranteeing the quality of urine cytobacteriological examination (ECBU) results, we initiated this study to evaluate non-compliance in the drafting of ECBU reports. Materials and methods: This was a retrospective descriptive cross-sectional study which focused on non- compliance in the drafting of ECBU reports analysed in the laboratory from January to December 2022. Results: During the study period, we collected 383 non-compliant ECBU reports out of 672, with a frequency of 56.99%. Non-compliances were related to age (2.68%), profession (24.40%), clinical information (6.70%) and resi- dence (52.08%). The majority of non-compliant reports came from the medicine (35.51%) and urology (25.85%) departments. Conclusion: The high frequency of non-compliance is a cause for concern and is of concern to all prescribers in this hospital. Keywords: Bulletins, ECBU, Mali, Non-compliance, Sikasso Received: September 25, 2023 Accepted: November 30, 2023 Published online: January 16, 2024 Corresponding author: Luka Diarra lukadiarra@yahoo.fr biology tests makes it difficult to carry them out and inter- pret the results (2). A number of researchers have concluded that non-compliance has a number of possible consequences for patients, such as misdiagnosis, mismanagement and treatment, as well as therapeutic abstention (3). In Burkina Faso, 59.4% of non-compliances concerning clinical informa- tion were reported in a study in 2021 (2). In Niger, Djobo et al recorded 53.99% of non-compliances concerning failure to notify the name of the service on biological examination forms (4). In Mali, 41% of non-compliances concerning clini- cal information were found (5). With a view to continuous quality improvement and guaranteeing the quality of urine cytobacteriological examination (ECBU) results, we initiated this study with the aim of evaluating non-compliance in the drafting of ECBU reports analysed at the Sikasso Hospital laboratory. Introduction A biological test report is a medical prescription for diag- nostic purposes, specifying the parameter to be measured, in relation to the diagnostic hypothesis envisaged, and all the information needed for the laboratory to carry out the test correctly (1). Non-compliance in the prescription of medical https://doi.org/10.33393/dti.2024.2670 https://doi.org/dti.2022.2522 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode Sikasso Hospital Urine Cytobacteriology Bulletin Drafting: Non-conformity Evaluation2 © 2024 The Authors. Drug Target Insights - ISSN 1177-3928 - www.aboutscience.eu/dti Materials and methods Study design and population This was a retrospective descriptive cross-sectional study of non-compliance in the completion of ECBU reports at Sikasso Hospital from January to December 2022. The study population consisted of reports containing the ECBU anal- ysed in the laboratory during the study period. Data were collected from examination request forms and the labora- tory register. Inclusion criteria All bulletins with ECBU analysed at the hospital labora- tory were included in this study. Non-inclusion criteria All reports of ECBU analysed in other laboratories, as well as reports of biological examinations other than ECBU were not included. Study variables The study variables were age, sex, occupation, clinical information and place of residence. Statistical analysis Excel 2013 and Epi Info 7.2.1.0 were used for statistical analysis of the data. Ethical considerations Anonymity was preserved before each inclusion. Results During the study period, we identified 383 non-compliant reports out of 672, with a frequency of 56.99%. The non- compliances identified were related to age, profession, clini- cal information and residence (Tab. I). TABLE I - Frequency of non-compliance by age, profession, clinical information and residence Variables Number Frequency (%) Non-compliance by age Yes  18  2.68 No 654 97.32 Non-compliance by profession Yes 164 24.40 No 508 75.60 Non-compliance by clinical information Yes  45  6.70 No 627 93.30 Non-compliance by residence Yes 350 52.08 No 322 47.92 The majority of non-compliance bulletins came from the medicine (35.51%) and urology (25.85%) departments (Fig. 1). 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Other Urology Nephrology Medicine Surgery Cardiology Gynecology Pediatrics Dermatology Intensive care Traumatology Rheumatology Emergency department Gastroenterology Frequency (%) De pa rt m en t Fig. 1 - Breakdown of non- compliant forms by department. Diarra et al Drug Target Insights 2024; 18: 3 © 2024 The Authors. Published by AboutScience - www.aboutscience.eu The non-compliances concerning age were 35.29% for the medicine department and 29.41% for the urology department. The lack of information on prescriptions in the urology department was 41.98%, and 21.60% in the nephrol- ogy department. The absence of clinical information was frequent on the urology department forms (44.19%). Non- compliances concerning residence accounted for 39.08% for medicine and 22.70% for urology. Study limitations The non-conformities concerned only ECBU bulletins, which justifies their high frequency during the course of this work. Discussion Prescription is the result of careful consideration, taking into account the epidemiological and clinical context on the one hand, and precise knowledge of what can be expected from the examination on the other (6). ECBU reports received during the course of this study were 56.99% non-compliant. Yacouba et al in Burkina Faso reported a non-compliant rate of 5.2% (2). Our result could be explained by the size of our sample, which was not large enough, and by the fact that the study was limited to ECBU reports. The majority of non- compliant reports came from medicine (35.51%) and urology (25.85%) departments. Djobo et al found 3.64% and 1.33%, respectively, for the medicine and urology departments (4). This could be explained by automatic prescribing, which is often based on personal habits rather than established pro- tocols (6). In our study, non-compliance relating to clinical information accounted for 6.70%. This proportion is lower than that reported by Djobo et al, who found the rate to be 46.63%. This situation could be explained by the lack of awareness of the importance of this parameter in the inter- pretation of ECBU by several of our prescribers (4). Including clinical and therapeutic information can help the biologist in choosing the technique to be used, or lead him/her to advise against a costly investigation and suggest a more appropri- ate one (2). Age was missing from 2.68% of the forms in our study. This low rate confirms our prescribers’ mastery of the impact of this parameter in interpreting the results (2). Those with no occupation or residence accounted for 24.40% and 52.08%, respectively. These socio-demographic parameters are one of the factors that will add value to our knowledge of the factors that contribute to urinary tract infections. Reporting them on ECBU reports will be of epidemiological interest. Conclusion This study has provided information on the completeness of ECBU reports. The high frequency of non-compliance is a cause for concern and is of concern to all prescribers in the hospital. Close collaboration between prescribers and biolo- gists would help to control non-compliance in the drafting of examination reports. Conflicts of interest The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Authors’ contributions Luka Diarra collected the data and wrote the article. Moussa Mariko contributed to the data analysis. All other authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript. Funding The authors received no funding for this work. Acknowledgements The authors sincerely thank all the staff of Sikasso Hospital for their contributions. Special thanks to the gen- eral management of the hospital for their support through- out the process. References 1. Adeoti MF, Silue A, Sawadogo D, Dosso M, Sess ED. Reflection on good practice in writing the medical analysis bulletin. Immunol Anal Biol Spec. 2004;19(6):370-373. Online CrossRef 2. Yacouba A, Kiello K, Kiba-Koumare TCRA, Kabre E, Sakande J. Writing quality of the laboratory request forms at Yalgado Ouédraogo teaching hospital, Burkina Faso. Int J Biol Chem Sci. 2019;13(6):2683-2690. Online CrossRef 3. Jnah A, Yagoubi M, Seffar M, El Hamzaoui S, Hamamouchi J, Zouhdi M. Control of non-conformities in the pre-analytical phase at the Bacteriology Laboratory of the Ibn Sina University Hospital in Rabat (Morocco). Tunis Med. 2022;100(3):247-254. 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