Sep 28, 2012 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
New technique could speed up protein-specific diagnostic testing performed by the nation’s clinical pathology laboratories
There is a growing role for mass spectrometry in clinical laboratory testing. However, the pace of adoption will depend on further technology enhancements, in tandem with new clinical applications yet to emerge from research laboratories.
One such innovation was announced by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). They developed a new technique that uses mass spec to identify protein biomarkers associated with cancer and other diseases. In the PNNL news release, researchers called the technique PRISM. The acronym stands for Proteomics Research Information System and Management. This e-briefing is based on the PNNL news release. (more…)
Sep 26, 2012 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
Lean/Six Sigma project at Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology improves the admissions review and acceptance processes for new students
When it comes to the use of Lean/Six Sigma methods, Mayo Clinic’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology (DLMP) has been at it for several years already. However, unlike most other clinical labs that focus Lean projects primarily to the flow of specimens through the laboratory, the Mayo Clinic DLMP has applied Lean to administrative work flow, with interesting results.
One such Lean project to improve office processes at DLMP was shown as a poster at the last Lab Quality Confab by Fazi Amirahmadi, Ph.D., who is the Systems Engineer Manager at Mayo Clinic’s DLMP. He presented the poster and explained how process-improvement protocols were applied to the Clinical Laboratory Science (CLS) admissions process. This poster earned a national award at Lab Quality Confab.
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