LETTER
The Last Word on Using Grids
Andrew B. Weinberger, MD
15 February 1994 | Volume 120 Issue 4 | Page 347
TO THE EDITOR:
I was delighted with the letter [1] concerning "grids" used to chart laboratory results, until I reached the last two sentences, in which a uniform grid style is proposed. These notations are often indecipherable or confusing. Because no labels exist, grids require much more time to interpret than does a simple listing of values. People use the grids in their own ways, resulting in numbers that have no intrinsic meaning to many who use the chart. These markings will make even less sense in the future.
I believe that Spaulding and Silverblatt are correct in their analysis but misguided in their solution. It would seem far better to eliminate the use of these grids than to try to codify them; the latter requires learning something we do not need to learn, and some physicians may not follow the prescribed pattern. I measured the time required to write down values using the standard notation for the seven measures and compared it with the time required using a grid. The standard notations took 15 seconds, and the grid notation took 10 seconds. A savings of 5 seconds is undoubtedly statistically significant but not medically important. Much more time would be lost if there were any question as to which number represented which determination.
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Author and Article Information
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St. Elizabeth Hospital; Elizabeth, NJ 07207
1. Spaulding A, Silverblatt FJ. Using grids to document laboratory results (Letter). Ann Intern Med. 1993; 119:863.
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