Jun 16, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
American Society of Clinical Pathology recognizes top-performing clinical pathology labs
When it comes to patient satisfaction rankings in hospitals, the clinical pathology laboratory is often ranked at the very bottom of the 10 clinical service categories measured by patient survey systems such as Press Ganey Associates. This bottom-tier ranking is undeserved, but happens for a logical reason.
For most patients, their only interaction with the hospital’s laboratory is when a phlebotomist sticks them with a needle to collect blood. Most patients find needle sticks to be uncomfortable and unpleasant. Further, a significant number of patients are afraid of needles.
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Jan 25, 2010 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Irish health service plans to downsize and shut some pathology laboratories while building two or three new stand-alone clinical laboratories
DUBLIN, IRELAND—Pathology testing and clinical laboratories in Ireland will soon be involved in a major project to overhaul the entire system of laboratory medicine in this country of 4.5 million people. Today, your Dark Daily editor wraps up a week-long visit to medical laboratories in Dublin and the pending reorganization of clinical laboratories is a major topic among pathologists and clinical laboratory scientists.
Last year, Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) issued a press release announcing the program to modernize the nation’s clinical laboratory service. The plan specifies that some pathology laboratories will be downsized or closed as regional laboratory testing networks are developed. Another major element in the plan is the creation of two or three “cold” laboratories—what North American laboratory professionals would recognize as a stand-alone clinical laboratory facility providing routine testing to general practice clinics—to serve this segment of the Irish healthcare system.
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Oct 28, 2009 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Deal with Providence Health gives PAML access to 78 CHI hospitals in 20 states
Yesterday it was announced that Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories (PAML) of Spokane, Washington, has a new equity partner. In a joint release, Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) and Providence Health & Services acknowledged a “definitive agreement in which CHI will assume a 25% equity position” in PAML.
This is a significant development in the laboratory testing industry. It provides PAML with easier access to the capital it needs to sustain ongoing growth. The new agreement also positions PAML as a preferred partner to develop laboratory outreach joint ventures with hospitals owned by CHI, which is the second largest catholic-owned health system in the United States.
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May 6, 2009 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Baystate harvests annual savings of 20%+ from simple strategies and steps
In today’s depressed economy, hospital laboratories are scrambling to control costs, reduce unnecessary spending, and get more for every dollar they spend. That is why the constantly-rising cost of reference tests and send-out referrals are now a prime target for laboratory budget-cutters across the United States.
Every laboratory’s reference/send-out test program is a potential budget-buster, for three reasons familiar to every lab director.
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Aug 13, 2008 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Findings of a recent study on laboratory test ordering confirm what is widely-known by laboratory professionals across the globe. In the United Kingdom, many junior doctors do not understand common hospital laboratory tests and are putting patients at risk as a result. This was the primary observation of UK biochemists in a recently-published study.
Dr. Trevor Grey from the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield, England surveyed 80 junior doctors, asking them how they felt about the clinical biochemistry tests they were expected to order on a daily basis. His findings were published as “Learning Needs in Clinical Biochemistry for Doctors in Foundation Years” in the January 2008 issue of The Annals of Clinical Biochemistry. The article reported that one in five (18%) of more than 80 junior doctors surveyed were happy to order a test they could not fully interpret. The article, along with an editorial piece by Dr. Danielle Freedman of the Association of Clinical Biochemistry, blamed both poor teaching and a reduction the amount of pathology and laboratory medicine taught at medical schools.
When asked about 12 common lab tests, junior doctors questioned during this survey said they were not entirely confident about interpreting the results for 10 of them. For three common types of lab tests, more than one-third of the junior doctors surveyed said they were not confident about interpreting the results. 18% of the junior doctors said they were happy to order a test which they did not fully understand how to interpret. Seven out of 10 junior doctors said they would find more teaching in biochemistry to be useful.
In Freedman’s editorial, she said the results revealed “a national problem” in the UK. She knew of situations where patients were discharged from a hospital, only to suffer a major heart attack because a key laboratory test had either not been ordered or the results had not triggered an appropriate clinical response. The UK’s General Medical Council is currently preparing to review its guidance on the content of medical education.
Across the laboratory medicine profession, there is recognition that time devoted to pathology and clinical lab testing in medical school is often not adequate to teach new physicians to be: 1) both competent and confident in ordering the right tests at the appropriate time; then 2) responding to the lab test results with the correct, recommended actions. Efforts to constantly improve patient safety will eventually evaluate and assess how young physicians are using laboratory tests. It will take a few more years for that to happen.
However, when real-time data is gathered that links errors in patient care to inappropriate ordering of lab tests and improper response to test results by young physicians-who were not properly trained during their medical education-only then is it likely that healthcare systems in the UK and other countries will take active steps to remedy this long-recognized deficiency.
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