ABSTRACT
This unique overhead specimen handling system requires virtually no floor space and only a minimal amount of bench space. It uses state-of-the-art conveyors suspended near the ceiling to transport, log-in and sort blood specimens in standard specimen containers. Specimens placed into the system at bench-level bins are automatically singulated and loaded onto cleated conveyors and lifted to the main conveyor belt near the ceiling. The barcoded labels are then read as the containers are rotated under an optical scanner. The specimens are then diverted to the appropriate branch conveyor and lowered back to the bench level by cleated conveyors. The specimen handling system is rapid and accurate, requires no special containers, allows laboratorians to move unimpeded below it, and is inexpensive by automation standards. Studies show no adverse effect upon the specimens.
Subject(s)
Laboratories, Hospital/organization & administration , Specimen Handling/methods , Automation , Electronic Data Processing , Equipment Design , Humans , Interior Design and Furnishings , Wisconsin , WorkloadABSTRACT
The ability to provide timely laboratory results is an important aspect of quality which must be continually monitored. In order to complete all testing before the maximum turnaround time requirements are exceeded, laboratorians need to have immediate and automatic access to the location of specimens and the status of tests ordered on each specimen. Any such automated approach must be able to monitor continually the status of work in progress, while simultaneously linking it to a specimen tracking (history) system that allows real-time tracing of the path of specimens through all laboratory operations. The authors have greatly advanced the capabilities of the AutoLog technology and have added to it a tracking system that captures specimen movement with minimum user assistance. This has been accomplished without the need to implement total process automation.
Subject(s)
Clinical Laboratory Information Systems , Medical Records Systems, Computerized , Specimen Handling , Automation , Clinical Laboratory Techniques , Database Management Systems , Humans , Laboratories, Hospital , Microcomputers , Software , WisconsinABSTRACT
The technical revolution that has strongly driven events in the clinical laboratory for the last thirty years is now threatening to make obsolete what has become the central pillar of operation in many laboratories, the minicomputer-based laboratory information system. Some of its functions could easily be absorbed by the personal computers which are proliferating in the laboratory, but any single step leap between systems risks replacing order with chaos. Appropriate use of networking tools, together with essential software development, can provide a systematic migrational path for both the administrative and technical computer support from one environment to another without the trauma of a massive replacement step.
