Oct 14, 2010 | Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
North America’s three ISO 15189 accreditation bodies will be at Lab Quality Confab, along with most of the nation’s ISO-15189 accredited clinical pathology laboratories
In the United States and Canada, acceptance and use of ISO 15189:2007 Medical Laboratories has been limited to a handful of clinical pathology laboratories—except in the Canadian province of Ontario, where, starting almost eight years ago, ISO 15189 became the basis of the province’s mandatory clinical laboratory accreditation program.
But now more pathologists and clinical laboratory managers south of the U.S.–Canadian border are asking a fundamental question: “Is ISO 15189 accreditation an effective way to move my laboratory organization to higher levels of analytical quality while continuously reducing or eliminating errors that affect patient safety and clinical outcomes? More senior medical lab leaders are answering this question with a “yes.”
Clinical Laboratories Turning to ISO 15189
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Jul 16, 2010 | Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
TLA and other laboratory automation solutions help clinical labs cope with shortage medical technologists
It’s been about 15 years since the first total laboratory automation (TLA) solutions were introduced into clinical laboratories in the United States. Starting in the mid-1990s, several commercial laboratory companies and a handful of hospital laboratories took the plunge and installed total laboratory automation systems in their high volume core laboratories.
Today, hundreds of clinical pathology laboratories in the United States have turned to laboratory automation as one approach to improving quality, reducing turnaround times for lab test results, to save money, and to improve staff productivity. Starting around the year 2000, an ever-growing number of in vitro diagnostics (IVD) manufacturers and other companies have introduced laboratory automation solutions and systems. This has widened the choices of medical laboratories, who often prefer a task-targeted automation solution to the “whole enchilada”—total laboratory automation.
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Apr 16, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
Third-generation total laboratory automation (TLA) solutions now used by Japanese clinical labs
Your Dark Daily editor is writing this e-briefing from the 7th Cherry Blossom Symposium in Japan, where it is already Saturday—one day ahead of you readers in North America! The second day of this International Conference of Clinical Laboratory Automation and Robotics is now unfolding.
Yesterday’s opening sessions were chock-full of innovation, insights, and new developments in clinical laboratory automation and robotics. Representing 12 nations, a sizeable crowd of 260 pathologists, clinical biochemists, laboratory scientists, and in vitro diagnostics (IVD) vendors is in attendance.
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Apr 7, 2010 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Pathology
Laboratory automation technology is ready and about to move into production
Most large clinical pathology laboratories in the United States and other developed nations now have a decade or more of experience with laboratory automation. In response to what is now a substantial market for laboratory automation, in vitro diagnostics (IVD) manufacturers are preparing to introduce the next generation of laboratory automation.
“Lab automation is a market, particularly in Asia, that has reached what we call mid-level maturity. It is no longer unusual to have an automated laboratory, it’s almost routine. Today, the question is ‘what’s next?’” observed Robin A. Felder, Ph.D. , publisher of Medical Automation and Professor of Pathology and Associate Director of Clinical Chemistry at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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Apr 6, 2010 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Cherry Blossom Symposium attracts pathologists from across the globe
Many of the world’s most innovative pathologists and experts in clinical laboratory automation are about to gather in Yokohama, Japan, for the 7th International of Conference of Clinical Laboratory Automation and Robotics —also known as the Cherry Blossom Symposium. The conference will take place on April 16-17, 2010.
In the United States, few clinical laboratory professionals and pathologists are aware that the Cherry Blossom Symposium takes place every other year in Japan. Yet, since its inception in 1998, it has been a “must-attend” event for North American laboratory automation innovators. Such well-known clinical laboratory automation experts as Charles Hawker, Ph.D., of ARUP Laboratories; Rodney Markin, M.D., Ph.D., of University of Nebraska Medical Center; and Robin Felder, Ph.D., of University of Virginia, make a point to participate at every Cherry Blossom Symposium.
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