Q&A with Anthony Tran, DrPH, MPH, D(ABMM), MT(ASCP) Public Health Laboratory Director Department of Forensic Sciences District of Columbia Medical Lab Management: Where does your laboratory stand with respect to the use of rapid test kits? Anthony Tran: We are not currently using rapid test kits in our public health laboratory, but we are exploring that option for multiple disease areas. ... read more

As targeted therapies continue to be developed, molecular profiling of tumor tissues has become critical for the appropriate management of patients with various cancers. Given the complexity of management decision-making when it comes to molecular profiling, accurate and timely genomic assessment of tumor tissues is imperative for selection of optimal therapeutic strategies. While the capabilities ... read more

A common refrain among laboratory practitioners is that the laboratory’s results are only as good as the quality of the specimen. Given this reality, it is critical that all specimens are delivered to the laboratory safely and within the appropriate environmental parameters. While such tasks may seem relatively straightforward in the inpatient setting of many small-to-mid-sized hospitals, large ... read more

Bedside glucose testing using strip technologies constitutes the highest test volume in most hospital-based point-of-care testing (POCT) programs. A 2010 study estimated that in health care settings, 51 percent of POCT involves bedside glucose meters using strip technologies.1 However, since the 2014 published warnings from the US FDA and CMS (both since retracted) on the potential erroneous results ... read more

At St. Elizabeth Healthcare, headquartered in Edgewood, Kentucky, and serving the Greater Cincinnati region, we were the first hospital in the nation to implement dual Copan WASP (Walk Away Specimen Processor) automated microbiology processors and run multiple culture types through the instruments. Due in large part to the hard work of our microbiology and laboratory team, automation such as this ... read more