Hospital Employs New Technology: Robotics
06/16/2005
Faster, More Accurate Analysis Means
Better Diagnosis and Treatment when Seconds Count
The Covenant HealthCare main laboratory is using a new robotic and automation system that increases employee safety while making diagnoses faster and more accurate. The state-of-the-science robotic equipment, made possible through a partnership with Beckman Coulter, a global biomedical company headquartered in Fullerton, California, automatically reads the patient’s name on a test tube, removes the cap, sorts and performs a variety of laboratory tests.
The Covenant Laboratory, located on the hospital’s main medical campus in Saginaw, has been processing an ever-increasing amount of lab tests, up 12% in the past two years. In addition, the chemistry section of the lab handles two million tests annually.
“This new system allows the laboratory to streamline the specimen handling process and standardize our turn around time for lab test results,” says Kevin Birchmeier, Director of Laboratory Services. “The combination of robotics and automation, along with the use of new plastic test tubes, frees up the medical technologists to handle critical laboratory testing. Bringing the latest laboratory technologies here to Saginaw helps us to better support the Covenant health system as well as meet the growing needs of regional community hospitals.”
Typically, when an individual visits their doctor or hospital, the physician may order five to 20 tests, depending on the patient’s symptoms, to make a diagnosis and implement a treatment plan. Often, a patient has a blood sample drawn that is sent to a laboratory where technologists perform tests on it. In recent years hospitals across the nation, including Covenant, are facing a greater demand for more lab tests while at the same time there is an increasing shortage of lab technologists to perform those tests. Now, hospitals are turning to high tech robotics that can read the patient’s name, perform dozens of tests and locate a single vial of blood among thousands. The end result – faster test results to the doctor and better patient treatment.
“The new clinical robotics and automation system performs bar code reading, cap removal, centrifugation, and sorts samples into appropriate tube racks,” explains Kathryn Wilkinson, Covenant Core Lab Manager. “We have customized our system to perform a variety of tests with state-of-the-science instrumentation, analyzers and software. A refrigerated stockyard, able to accommodate 3000 samples, also allows the system to automatically locate samples quickly for repeat and add-on tests, which ultimately improves efficiency and patient safety.”
The new lab robotics system increases productivity and improves the quality of patient care. Turnaround time for tests will improve with a targeted goal of 60 minutes or less within six months of implementation. Additionally, since the robotics do virtually all of the handling of lab specimens, Covenant laboratory staff face less potential of exposure to infectious diseases thus creating a safer work environment. The robotics frees up the medical technologist to do the most important job – to review and verify patient test results before releasing them to the doctor.
Currently, Covenant is the only hospital in east central Michigan to implement this state-of-the-science technology.
Covenant HealthCare, the sixth largest hospital in Michigan, provides care to people in 14+ counties throughout East Central Michigan. As the second largest employer in Saginaw County with 4,000 employees, Covenant offers high quality comprehensive medical services including cardiovascular, neurosciences, orthopedics, obstetrics, emergency and trauma care, and the new LifeNet air ambulance. Covenant HealthCare also provides the region’s only neonatal and pediatric/pediatric intensive care units to serve the health needs of children.
