Sarah Bush Lincoln officers say their laboratory is without doubt one of the most technologically superior areas of the Well being Middle and have introduced it simply turned extra superior, delivering top quality lab outcomes sooner whereas decreasing the potential for human error.

The Lab put in a Beckman Coulter DxA 5000 whole lab automation system that streamlines and automates a lot of the testing techniques for chemistry, hematology and immunoassay, a take a look at used to detect the presence or amount of a substance within the blood. Sarah Bush Lincoln is the primary hospital in the US, and the third lab in North America to have such a system.

Lab Supervisor Dave Sowers defined that there have been primarily three causes for investing within the Beckman Coulter system. “It will increase our capacity to course of extra lab specimens, reduces processing errors, and produces constant and improved turn-around occasions on lab outcomes,” he stated.

Sowers added the SBL lab has an extended historical past associated to its accuracy, however nationally about 60 p.c of errors in any lab happen within the pre-analytical stage. Usually, it entails making ready the pattern for testing. This method compensates for a portion of that human error and stops the take a look at.

He defined that varied checks require totally different assortment tube sorts, which is indicated by the take a look at tube cap. Within the first three seconds, the automation line robotic system takes an image of the tube, reads the bar code to discern if the take a look at ordered matches the gathering tube, weighs it to find out if the take a look at tube is simply too full or not full sufficient, and identifies if the specimen requires centrifugation for the testing to be accomplished. If it isn’t applicable, the system will transfer the tube to an error rack for a workers member to resolve. Previous to the Beckman Coulter system, this portion of the method was carried out manually.

The expansive system resembles a small conveyor belt that runs round all of the lab analyzers, transferring take a look at tubes into the suitable analyzers, ensuing the take a look at to the affected person’s digital medical report after which inserting it right into a refrigerated storage space. If, at a later time, the ordering doctor locations an order for a special take a look at, the system routinely will pull the take a look at tube from storage and route it to the suitable analyzer.

One of many underlying causes Sarah Bush Lincoln made the funding within the system is due to the growing older workforce within the SBL lab. Sowers defined that in about 5 years, a big portion of the Lab workers will retire with fewer candidates to fill their seats. Lab scientists usually have three years of faculty and a one-year internship at a Nationally Accredited Company for Scientific Laboratory Science (NAACLS) facility, an accreditation that few colleges and laboratories nonetheless keep. He stated, “Many college students don’t understand the potential careers as scientists so fewer college students are pursuing the sector. It’s reported that about 12,000 lab workers retire every year with solely 5,000 scientists coming into lab work.”

Because the dealing with of take a look at tubes by scientists is decreased resulting from automation, it frees up about 30 p.c of their time, thus permitting the scientists extra time to deal with high quality. “Because the machine processes the specimens effectively, it permits scientists to commit the mandatory time to deal with tough checks that outcome exterior of the conventional boundaries. They will do all they had been educated to do at school to make sure high quality outcomes are being turned out,” Sowers stated.

“We’re simply actually thrilled with the brand new system and the way easily it really works,” he stated. For extra data, contact Dave Sowers, 217 258-2245.