Table 5.

Therapeutic turnaround time for tests sent to referral laboratories.

Survey Questions	Level 2 Provincial Hospital (N = 1)	Level 3 District Hospitals (N = 7) (Response Frequency by Sites Surveyed)	Level 4 Community Health Centers (N = 7) (Response Frequency by Sites Surveyed)
Tests sent to an outside referral laboratory a	L-lactate, anti-CCP, NSE, and SPEP	HIV (4); dengue fever (4); malaria (3); TB (2); chlamydia (1); organisms that cannot be cultured (1 e); and none, do not transfer patients for tests (1)	No tests available to perform, patient is transferred (6); HIV (1); and pap smears (1)
Name of referral laboratory b	Hue Central Hospital d	Center for Disease Control of Thua Thien Hue Province (4); Thua Thien Hue Center of HIV/AIDS Control (3); Hue University Hospital (1); Hue Central Hospital (1) and Third party private laboratory (1); TB and Pulmonary Disease Hospital (1); and none, do not transfer patients’ tests (1)	No tests available to perform, patient is transferred to the nearest district hospital (6); and nearest district hospital (1)
Time taken to receive results from referral laboratory c	If delivered same morning, results are received in the afternoon; if delivered in the afternoon, the results are received the following day (7–24 h)	7–10 days (4); 1–3 days (2); 30 days (2); 7 h (1); and none, do not transfer patient tests (1)	No tests available to perform, patient is transferred (6); and 3–10 days (1)

Abbreviations: anti-CCP, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody test; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; NSE, neuron specific enolase; SPEP, serum protein electrophoresis; TB, tuberculosis. Footnotes: ^a Survey question 4.21. ^b Survey question 4.22. ^c Survey question 4.23. ^d Biochemistry laboratory in Hue Central Hospital. ^e Typically, if a test cannot be performed, the patient is transferred downstream to a Level 1 or Level 2 hospital.