When It Comes to Monkeypox Testing, Clinical Laboratories Should Be Aware of Five Significant Developments

There are reports of phlebotomists refusing to draw monkeypox blood samples and social stigma surrounding the disease can affect who gets a medical laboratory test Cases of monkeypox are increasing in the US—14,115 as of Aug. 19, up 1,400 from the prior week—and clinical laboratories around the country are bracing for a potential increase in monkeypox testing orders. Several factors, however, are affecting the testing. Chief among them: Lab workers refusing to take blood draws from potential...

University of Nebraska Infectious Disease Researchers Study New Device That Could Help Clinical Laboratories and Phlebotomists Avoid Blood Culture Contamination and False Positive Results for Sepsis

Additionally, the device also could help reduce antibiotic-resistant infections and other HAIs and HACs, though this result was not part of the study Research findings indicate how a new system-in-a-box device that phlebotomists and clinical laboratories would use when drawing blood could reduce contamination of blood cultures and lower patients’ use of antibiotics. In a study involving 1,800 blood cultures done on 904 patients at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), use of the...

Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp Ink Deals to Put Patient Services Centers in Grocery Stores and Retail Pharmacies, But Not for the Same Reasons as Theranos

Agreements to open PSCs in the nation’s largest retail grocery and pharmacy chain stores shows a willingness by clinical laboratories to attract customers through convenience Greater use of retail stores as the location for patient services centers (PSCs) may be an important new trend for the clinical laboratory industry. That’s because, historically, medical laboratories placed most of their patient service centers in hospital campuses or near medical office buildings. However, in recent...

Underfunding Affects the Public Face of Clinical Laboratories

Noted Humorist Garrison Keillor Encounters the Truth of Inadequate Funding for Clinical Laboratory Testing Services It is widely recognized by pathologists and clinical laboratory managers in the United States and abroad that medical laboratory testing is a “high touch” clinical service. Each day, lots of patients interact with laboratory professionals to provide specimens. Physicians know that their own successful medical practice is dependent on a smooth-functioning and high-quality...

CNN Recognizes “Heroes in Lab Coats”

Noted Author lauds the quiet professionals working in the world’s laboratories Seldom do laboratory professionals get the recognition they deserve each day for their role in protecting the public health from spread of disease. Now, with the specter of an influenza pandemic hanging over the world, CNN Contributor Bob Greene suggests it is time to pay homage to what he describes as our unsung “heroes in lab coats.” Writing yesterday in a commentary on the CNN Web site, Greene...
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