Progressing to Integrated Genomics and Molecular CDS

• June 2019
• Aaron E. Atkinson, PhD

The bioinformatic analysis lab serving the Huntsman Cancer Institute and the University of Utah provides services ranging from research focused single cell sequencing and analysis of research samples and protocol development, to clinical research and assisting the genetic counseling department. In technical terms, our research arm is ahead of our ever-increasing clinical needs, but together the combination... Read more

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Laboratory Waste Management: The New Regulations

• June 2019
• Daniel J. Scungio, MT(ASCP)SLS, CQA(ASQ)

Administering a medical laboratory waste management program is a complicated process, and proper stewardship requires understanding and application of the most current regulations. There are multiple waste streams created in the laboratory setting, the three most common of which are: Regular (non-contaminated) waste Regulated medical (bio-hazard) waste Hazardous waste Among these, hazardous... Read more

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Point-of-Care Testing

• June 2019

Point-of-care testing technology is widely used in clinical settings of all sizes and sophistications, with 96% of facilities incorporating some form of POC testing. Serving a supplementary role, POCT technology provides patient-centered, actionable data that can improve the speed and efficiency of patient care, and help limit unnecessary treatments and/or other undue procedures. The... Read more

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Capturing Productivity in the Laboratory

• June 2019
• Michael Veri, MLS(ASCP), MS

All clinical laboratory directors must manage a wide range of metrics to account for employee time spent working in the lab. The productivity metric is a measure of a unit of work as compared to a unit of time, and it can be utilized to determine department efficiency. While this metric is evaluated differently in every hospital department (eg, adjusted patient days, ED visits, number of surgical procedures,... Read more

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Help Prevent Quality Losses

• May 2019
• Claude G. Sawney, MS, MLS(ASCP)

How important is it to quantitatively and qualitatively measure incurred or prevented losses due to poor quality in the clinical laboratory? Claude Sawney: I think that laboratories must first understand the fundamental elements of Cost of Quality and Cost of Poor Quality. When these concepts have been ingrained in the culture, understanding the importance of applying metrics to measure them becomes... Read more

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