Clinical laboratories, much like the human cardiovascular system, are essential to the health and functioning of the broader healthcare system. When a heart struggles, CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) can revive it. When a clinical lab faces mounting pressures such as increasing test volumes, regulatory hurdles, staffing shortages, and budget cuts, it may require its own form of CPR – Connectivity, Productivity, and Risk Management – to ensure it survives and thrives. Here’s how you can use lab CPR to rejuvenate your lab’s health and performance:
1. Connectivity: The Lab’s Lifeline
It’s easy to see connectivity middleware in the lab as a cardiovascular system, transporting data between instruments and lab information systems (LISs) just as veins and arteries transport oxygen and essential nutrients to the body. In a clinical setting, the right connectivity infrastructure is the key to sustaining efficiency, flexibility, and innovation. However, many labs are unaware of the advantages that truly vendor-neutral connectivity can offer.
In cardiovascular care, freedom from obstruction is crucial for heart health. Similarly, vendor-neutral connectivity allows labs to avoid restrictions imposed by specific equipment manufacturers, enabling them to connect any instrument to their LIS without being locked into proprietary systems. This flexibility facilitates innovation, cost savings, and the ability to adopt cutting-edge technologies without barriers.
CPR Step 1:
Evaluate your current connectivity setup. Can you add new instruments without being restricted by vendor lock-ins? Are you able to swap out instruments without paying additional connectivity fees? Look for middleware solutions – like those provided by Data Innovations – that offer broad compatibility, vendor-neutral support, and scalable growth. A flexible middleware system with a fair pricing model can ensure you lab is free to evolve with future demands without being penalized financially for changing instruments.
2. Productivity: Pumping Efficiency into Your Lab
If connectivity is the cardiovascular system, productivity is exercise that keeps the system strong and healthy. For clinical labs, maintaining high productivity is essential to meet growing demand without overburdening staff. One of the most effective ways to boost productivity is through autoverification (AV).
AV improves workflow efficiency by automatically validating test results based on predefined rules. This reduces the need for manual intervention, allowing technologists to focus their efforts on more complex tasks that require human judgment. Studies have demonstrated the potential for AV to improve turnaround times, operational efficiency, labor requirements, error detection, and physician satisfaction with services.[1]
Clinical labs can implement AV rules through their LIS. However, vendor-neutral middleware has proven to deliver higher rates of autoverification by enabling the creation of complex AV rules. For example, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics achieved an AV rate of 99.5% in its core chemistry lab by using vendor-neutral middleware Instrument Manager™ to create a large number of custom AV rules. The increased productivity made possible through the lab’s AV rulesets resulted in a 32% increase in billable tests per hour. [2] The improved turnaround time also freed up staff to investigate questionable test results or to deal with assays that required offline intervention such as manual dilutions.
CPR Step 2:
If you haven’t implemented AV with your connectivity middleware yet, consider doing so. Explore truly vendor-neutral middleware solutions that offer fully customizable AV rules, enabling higher rates of autoverification and freeing up staff for critical tasks.
3. Risk Management: Minimizing Errors and Disruptions
Just as regular heart monitoring and proactive care help prevent cardiovascular events, effective risk management in the lab ensures continuous, high-quality performance while increasing efficiencies, minimizing human error, and reducing system downtime.
Automated middleware risk management tools, including those that connect directly to QC platforms such as Bio-Rad Unity Real Time, Technopath IAMQC, Thermo Scientific LabLink xL or CAP proficiency testing, can significantly decrease labor hours while reducing the chance of manual errors. They also can flag and isolate problematic results for further review, preventing potential errors from reaching the LIS.
CompuNet, a Quest Diagnostics partner facility, saved over 500 hours of staff time annually by automating proficiency reporting for its hematology differentials and general chemistry and therapeutic drug surveys. The lab estimated efficiencies gained through this automation to equal $53,000 in savings over two years.[3] Moreover, by automating their proficiency testing, the lab eliminated a high number of clerical errors. According to CAP, approximately 40% of proficiency testing errors are clerical, caused by a manual data entry mistake.3
Minimizing downtime is another form of risk management essential for maintaining a lab’s operational health. Unplanned downtime can halt operations and delay patient results, making it one of the most significant threats to a lab’s performance and most importantly, to patient care.
New technology is making it easier for labs to minimize downtime. For example, Lab GPS™ provides real-time connectivity status, notifications, and remote troubleshooting, allowing lab staff to resolve connectivity issues without waiting for IT support. This type of solution empowers labs to quickly address disruptions, improving operational uptime and patient care.
CPR Step 3:
Implement automated QC and proficiency reporting tools to minimize the risk of human error and reduce the time spent on manual data entry. Explore downtime monitoring and troubleshooting tools to optimize your lab’s connectivity uptime. This will not only improve your lab’s efficiency but ensure compliance with regulatory standards and safeguard against future disruptions.
A Healthy Lab
Just as cardiovascular health requires ongoing attention and maintenance, clinical laboratories must continuously participate in activities to support their operational health to keep up with ever-evolving demands. Using CPR – Connectivity, Productivity, and Risk Management – enables your lab to overcome challenges and thrive in a dynamic healthcare landscape.
If your lab is feeling the strain, ask yourself: does your lab need CPR? If the answer is yes, our team is ready to help. Reach out to us directly or tune into our Virtual User Group to learn more about reviving your lab with Connectivity, Productivity, and Risk Management.
About Data Innovations
For 35 years, Data Innovations has provided truly vendor-neutral software and solutions for clinical labs to optimize performance across all disciplines. With key solutions spanning lab connectivity, productivity, quality, performance and reliability, and analytics, Data Innovations is credited with establishing the lab enablement software space and driving vendor-neutral solutions that enable each lab to perform at its best. Serving more than 6,000 hospitals and laboratories in over 80 countries, Data Innovations is known for its unparalleled clinical lab expertise and service, contributing to improved patient care while enabling labs to do more with less.
[1] Randell E, Short G, Lee N, et al. Autoverification Process Improvement by Six Sigma approach: Clinical Chemistry & Immunoassay. Clinical Biochemistry, 2018;55(5):42-48. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S000991201731264X?via%3Dihub
[2] Krasowski M, Davis S, Drees D, et al. Autoverification in a Core Clinical Chemistry Laboratory at an Academic Medical Center. Journal of Pathology Informatics, 2014;5(1). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2153353922002826
[3] Shearer M. How to Reduce Clerical Errors; Run Proficiency Testing As If Testing a Patient Specimen. College of American Pathologists. https://doczz.net/doc/8806870/how-to-reduce-clerical-errors—college-of-american-patho