Determining the utility of creatinine delta checks: A large retrospective analysis

This study identified two instances of laboratory error reflected by 3 delta checks (1.2%); the vast majority (91.3%) of creatinine results that changed by ±60% were pathologic or dialysis-related. Thus, establishment of a ±60% delta check for creatinine would overwhelmingly flag true biological change and would not be an efficient means for identifying rare laboratory errors. Clinical laboratories should perform similar retrospective analyses prior to enacting delta checks to determine whether they will effectively capture laboratory error.