Oct 13, 2014 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News
Seeking ways to improve efficiency and cut costs, labs aim to use less formalin
One seldom-reported development in anatomic pathology is the new priority histology laboratories are giving to employee safety. Labs have long recognized that exposure to the dangerous chemicals used in processing tissue creates risk for histotechnologists.
Today, a rising number of medical laboratories in the United States and other countries are seeking to reduce those risks. Routine chemicals still used today in histology include formalin, toluene, and xylene.
National Cancer Institute Report Lists Formaldehyde as a Carcinogen
In August, a scientific body confirmed the risk of using formaldehyde in the workplace. The National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences issued a report confirming findings in the 2011 National Toxicology Program (NTP) that listed formaldehyde as a carcinogen. (more…)
Jul 23, 2012 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Digital Pathology, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Uncategorized
New database of diabetes patients opens door for pathologists to improve existing medical laboratory testing algorithms
Integration of healthcare informatics is proceeding at a brisk pace. The latest evidence comes from 11 highly-respected integrated health systems that are pooling data to create the largest, most comprehensive private-sector diabetes registry in the country. It will contain information from 1.1 million diabetic patients.
For clinical laboratory managers and pathologists, this “super diabetes database” demonstrates that many multi-hospital health systems are now willing to pool patient data to make it easier to identify clinical trends. This data will also be used to develop more sophisticated evidence-based medicine (EBM) guidelines—many of which will involve better utilization of medical laboratory tests.
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Nov 18, 2011 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
DATELINE: San Antonio, Texas—This week, a large and enthusiastic crowd of clinical laboratory managers and pathologists gathered here to participate in the fifth annual Lab Quality Confab, a conference devoted to Lean, Six Sigma, and process improvement in medical laboratories and hospitals.
It was an opportunity to judge the “state of the clinical laboratory testing industry” in regards to how quality management and the tools of Lean and continuous improvement are helping to transform the nation’s more innovative medical laboratory organizations. This is an important trend in laboratory medicine and it is still in its earliest stages.
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Aug 3, 2011 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Both the clinical laboratory and the pathology laboratory have cut TAT and error rates
It is perfect irony that the Department of Pathology and Clinical Laboratory Medicine at the Henry Ford Health System is among the most effective Lean practitioners in the world of medical laboratory testing. That’s because Lean techniques were developed by Toyota Motor Corporation, which itself based its Lean management methods on its study of Henry Ford’s groundbreaking innovations at his auto manufacturing plant in Detroit.
Thus, the current use of Lean methods at the clinical laboratory at Henry Ford Health System means that these management tools have come full circle. Today, the laboratory at the hospital in Detroit that bears Ford’s name has adopted methods used in auto manufacturing to improve the lab’s processes.
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Oct 26, 2009 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Advanced use of EHRs is one characteristic of nation’s quality leaders
It’s a new study and ranking of top-performing health systems that Dark Daily readers will find interesting and useful. Thomson Reuters announced its latest Top 10 rankings, and identified three main ingredients for attaining higher-quality outcomes. They were: 1) a corporate-level coordinating committee; 2) ample involvement in planning from front-line caregivers; and a system-wide electronic health record system (EHR).
Thomson-Reuters evaluated 252 health systems, representing 1,720 hospitals. Its findings were published exclusively in Modern Healthcare. Its rating was based on five clinical performance measures: mortality, complications, patient safety, length-of-stay and use of evidence-based medicine. No attempt was made to measure financial performance. The health systems study used 2007 information from two public databases, the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review and Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Hospital Compare.
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